Forsling’s goal finishes Bruins, sends Panthers back to conference finals

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Somehow, someway, Gustav Forsling’s shot with 93 seconds left in Game 6 went through Boston defenseman Parker Wotherspoon’s legs, slipped by the brick wall of goalie Jeremy Swayman and kept the Florida Panthers on their merry way.

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The Panthers went into the heart of New England for the second straight season and came out with Boston’s heart and soul with a 2-1 win Friday night to win a series, four games to two, that was a mini-series of angst, bile, and wonderful hockey.

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After the teams lined up to shake hands, after the Panthers took extra time respecting Swayman, Boston already was beginning to move into the background as the Panthers advance to their second-straight Eastern Conference Finals starting Wednesday at the New York Rangers.

If Boston was a series of high emotion, the next is a series even the Brooklyn-bred, Panthers owner Vinny Viola must love. His entry into hockey was as a Rangers fan in the early 1960s, back when he could only afford the worst seats to games.

Now his team threatens Madison Square Garden with the kind of play that sunk Boston. The Panthers are different from the team that reached the Stanley Cup Final last spring. They’re better. Deeper. Smarter. More disciplined. Hungrier from that near-miss a year ago. Maybe luckier, too.

“Some of it was luck,’’ Panthers coach Paul Maurice admitted of that final goal because puck luck is part of hockey. That slippery goal proved it, though the Panthers having a 440-278 shot advantage in the series said they earned their luck.

Forsling joined Carter Verhaeghe last year and Bill Lindsay three decades ago to be Panthers whose goals ended a Boston series.

“I can’t believe it went in,’’ Forsling said.

Even after it sunk in, it hadn’t sunk in.

“I’m not used to being the guy who scores the winning goal,” he said.

This was an odd series with five of the six games won by the road team. The Panthers won all three in Boston, reducing Boston fans to chants like, “Shoot the puck,” at their team in Game 3 and pained silence by Friday’s end.

What sports drama these games held. What anger. Matthew Tkachuk fought David Pastrnak. Sam Bennett hit Brad Marchand (and, yes, they shook hands afterward because that’s hockey). But by Game 6 the only emerged mano-a-mano battle was Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky vs. Swayman.

Who was better? Could you even pick by the end? Was the different just that lucky Forsling goal?

Bobrovsky was beaten after his defense faltered…