RALEIGH, N.C. — If what’s past is prologue, it won’t take long for this Bruins-Hurricanes series to get spicy.

In a January press conference, Vincent Trocheck used the word “rat” in reference to Brad Marchand, who retorted on social media that comparing those two players is like putting a Lamborghini against a Prius.

Checkered flag goes to Trocheck on that one: The Bruins had their doors blown off, 7-1, and 6-0, in the next two meetings.

Erik Haula, who had a brief and reportedly acrimonious stay in Carolina, was booed vociferously when he returned with Nashville in the 2021 playoffs. The temperature rose whenever he was on the ice then, as it did when Boston lost, 3-0, in Raleigh in October.

The Bruins think they can handle the Canes, whom they whipped in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals (4-0), and quickly dispatched in the first round in 2020 (4-1).

The Canes think they can handle the Bruins, who landed 99 shots in three games and produced one goal.

We’re comfortable stating that this won’t be a 16-1 series on the scoreboard. Here are four areas that might swing this first-round series:

The Hurricanes, under their fitness freak of a coach, Rod Brind’Amour, will skate, skate, skate. They pinch from the point. They press on the breakout. They dump the puck in, arrive first, and put it on net. It’s a caffeinated style that forces snowballing mistakes.

The Bruins are structured and patient, which helps them lock down their defensive zone. It also means they’re sometimes guilty of taking too much time to make decisions. If they can use Carolina’s pouncing to their advantage — get them to overcommit — they will find open ice.

The Bruins’ first forechecker has to be physical, coach Bruce Cassidy noted, must get a piece of the defenseman he’s battling. Carolina, by Boston’s research, isn’t as effective on the break when their defensemen don’t join the rush.

It is also critical that the third (high) forward — often a center, like newcomers Haula and Tomas Nosek — knows when to join the forecheck and when to hang back to prevent a counterattack.

The Bruins scored seven power-play goals in four games in 2019. Cassidy pointed to successful entries, combatting the pressure and holding the blue line. They scored a couple off the rush. It was a strong performance.

It came after the Game 2 adjustment that saw the Bruins solve Carolina’s aggressive D by throwing pucks behind them. The Canes will pounce to try and kill the play, so the Bruins’ patience served them well.

“They want to deny entries, get to pucks quick, close off passing lanes,” Cassidy said. His team, he felt, needs to have a “5 on 5 mentality” — spin out of checks, take hits to make plays. “If we have that mentality, we’ll get some looks,” he said. “If not, we’re going to be working on our entries quite a lot.”

The Bruins’ power-play struggles are well documented (0 for 39 in the final few weeks). Also, they are particularly susceptible to allowing shorthanded goals: seven 5-on-4 goals against, tied for 10th most in the league. While that wasn’t as bad as they were in 2019 (they allowed 14), they have finished in the top 10 in that category five years running under Cassidy.

They did not allow a shortie to the Canes in three meetings this year. Their only goal was a PPG. That left them 1 for 14 against Carolina, which allowed the second fewest 5-on-4 goals in the league.

It’s worth noting that the Bruins raised a banner in 2011 with a dormant power play. They got to the Final in 2019 while bleeding shorthanded chances.

Before this season, 22-year-old Pyotr Kochetkov had never made more than 31 appearances in a season. He is up to 41, with three in an NHL uniform (3-0-0, .902 save percentage). If he’s in net, the Bruins will look upstairs, where many rookies are vulnerable.

If the Hurricanes roll with Antti Raanta, he’ll be trying to prove himself as a playoff goalie. The oft-injured Finn has an .846 save percentage in five playoff appearances, three with the Rangers in 2016 and two with the Coyotes in 2020.

If Frederik Andersen (left leg) is healthy enough to go, the ex-Maple Leaf will allow rebounds. It’s up to the Bruins to fight for them. Andersen’s teammates have done a solid job of clearing them this season, helping his Vezina Trophy candidacy (35-14-3, 2.17 GAA, .922 save percentage).

Meanwhile, the areas of Linus Ullmark’s game that were issues in the early going — puck play, rebound control — have settled as he adjusted to the Bruins’ defense.

His new team defends in layers, so players are switching and passing off responsibility, rather than following their man. He is trending up, which is why he earned the nod over Jeremy Swayman to start the first round.

The eye-opening decision to move David Pastrnak off the No. 1 line and promote Jake DeBrusk has worked as well as Cassidy could have hoped.

After a sluggish start that had him scratched and asking for a trade, DeBrusk wound up with 25 goals. He got there with a PPG in Game 82, after bumping into Justin Holl and crashing hard into the boards in Toronto.

Pastrnak hit 40 strikes despite a three-week core injury late in the year. He settled in with Haula and Taylor Hall, giving Boston two legitimate scoring lines.

If either line is stifled, Cassidy might return to the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak unit that lit up the league in recent years. Those three have a few faceoff plays they can run, which could help in a critical situation.

Any Bruins line must find ways to get to the front of the net, where Carolina doesn’t have overwhelming size or defensive stoutness. Prepare to hear the term “inside ice” a lot in the coming days.

Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyports.

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