To fight, or not to fight. That is a question facing most, if not all, NHL hockey players at one time or another. Because it’s often not so clear cut.

Marco Rossi, for instance, reduced the Wild’s cache of available forwards to 10 for a full 17 minutes on Thursday after picking a fight with Montreal’s Kaiden Guhle — who had just postered Kirill Kaprizov with a hard check into the boards — in the second period of Minnesota’s 4-3 overtime victory at Xcel Energy Center.

It was a tough row to hoe for the Wild as they tried to hold off the hard-charging Canadiens, who tied early in the third period on a power play stemming from a double roughing minor on defenseman Zach Bogosian. On the other hand, Rossi’s actions went a long way with his teammates.

“Just to show a guy’s willing to do that and stick up for your teammates, that’s how you build a great winning culture,” Bogosian said after the game.

Head coach John Hynes, perhaps simply because Minnesota won the game, straddled the fence on Rossi’s decision afterward. The rookie center already had scored a goal for Minnesota, and was just generally playing well, when he earned a major for fighting, minor for instigating and a game misconduct.

It was Rossi’s first hockey fight, and when he finally returned, he earned an assist on a go-ahead goal by Brock Faber for his first career three-point game and the fabled Gordie Howe hat trick.

“You’ve gotta give him props for that,” Hynes said. “But it was tough to lose him, too, because he had some legs tonight.”

And they already were down a forward because Ryan Hartman was scratched with an upper body injury. He didn’t play Saturday and remains day to day. On Dec. 8 in Edmonton, Hartman tried to pick a fight with Evander Kane early in the third period of a tie game after the Oilers wing boarded — no penalty — defenseman Jonas Brodin.

Kane demurred, flopped and earned Hartman a roughing penalty, and the Oilers scored the winning goal on the ensuing power play. Afterward, Hynes was disappointed by the sequence. “I think we’ve got to control our emotions there a little bit,” he said.

So, what’s the answer?

“I do think every situation is different,” Hynes said Saturday before the Wild played host to Boston. “I think in the one in Edmonton, I think sometimes it’s time and score; where are you in the game, and what actually happened?”

“You don’t like to see a guy like Marco do it, because that’s obviously not what he does,” Hynes added. “But the fact that he did do it, I think, you know, speaks about his character. Also, you do have some team toughness and some team togetherness in certain situations. I think on that one, it was completely reactionary. I think he just saw what happened and it was right there, and it was a complete reaction. It’s something we’ll constantly talk to the guys about. But I did feel that situation was different than the situation in Edmonton.”

Spurgeon update

Team captain Jared Spurgeon, who hasn’t played in a game since a 3-0 victory at Seattle on Dec. 10 because of a lower body injury, participated in Saturday’s morning skate but was unavailable against the Bruins.

The Wild have three days off for the holiday before returning to practice on Tuesday, making it likely Spurgeon could be available for their next game, Dec. 27 against Detroit at the X.

Wild debut

Veteran forward Jake Lucchini, recalled Thursday under emergency conditions because of Hartman’s injury, was in the lineup on Saturday, playing on the third line with Marcus Foligno and Joel Eriksson Ek.

Lucchini, 28, played 11 games for Ottawa last season, scoring one goal and averaging 11 minutes, 40 seconds of ice time. His plan for his Wild debut was pretty simple.

“Just kinda working hard, trying to do my job the best I can, limit my mistakes,” he said. “If I get a chance to put the puck in, obviously I’d love to do that. But just play simple, forecheck hard and try to create chances.”

Briefly

Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 40 saves in Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime victory at Boston, was in net Saturday. Rookie defenseman Brandon Hunt was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. Veteran Dakota Mermis was in.