Will Wild look to past (Zach Parise) or future (Matt Boldy) in Game 4?

When Marcus Johansson crashed into the goalpost Thursday during the Wild's first period surge against Vegas, resulting in damage that forced down the tunnel and out of the game for good, it created an immediate Game 4 subplot.

And as the Wild's 2-0 lead evaporated over the final 40 minutes of a 5-2 butt-kicking, that plot line only increased in magnitude: Johansson's injury, confirmed Friday as a broken arm, forces him out of the lineup in Game 4 and beyond.

The two primary options to replace him are full of intrigue.

Will head coach Dean Evason look to the Wild's past and insert Zach Parise — a healthy scratch for several games down the stretch and in the first three games of the playoffs — into the lineup? Or would he look to the future and put highly touted rookie Matt Boldy into his first NHL game in a make-or-break Game 4 with the Wild trailing 2 games to 1.

Door number three, I suppose, is that both players crack the lineup and that Nico Sturm or Nick Bjugstad is scratched.

I talked about the intrigue on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast once I was done breaking down all that went wrong after looking so right in Game 3.

The simplest and safest choice is Parise, of course. He has 77 career points in 101 postseason games and, lest we forget, was the Wild's leading goal scorer in each of the previous two seasons when he had 53 combined tallies. He could slot into the third line, perhaps giving Kevin Fiala (zero points in the series) someone to work off of.

He might be an even better fit to play with Fiala, but he has also never played in an NHL game. Putting him into a critical Game 4 would be a huge show of faith that would carry the risk of second-guessing if it didn't work out.

As noted, Parise could find a spot on the fourth line and Boldy could take Johansson's spot on the third line if Evason really wants to shake up a lineup that has produced just four goals in three games this series. That would give Evason some cover, too, if Boldy looked overmatched because he could throw Parise onto the third line as needed.

At this point, nothing would surprise me. Parise's experience, like I said, would be the safest bet and his ability to score "gritty" goals could be exactly what the Wild need. But he's also clearly fallen out of favor with Evason and GM Bill Guerin — and their strategic long-term plan could lead them to give Boldy a chance to show what he can do.

Parise slotting in was the overwhelming choice in the Twitter poll I ran. But the only vote that truly matters is the one Evason will make on Saturday.