Carolina Hurricanes captain Ron Francis scored 58 seconds into overtime to upset the Detroit Red Wings in game one of the Stanley Cup Finals.

After the visiting Hurricanes had battled back twice at the Joe Louis Arena, Francis stunned the home crowd to deflect a pass from Jeff O'Neill past Dominik Hasek.

His goal gave the Carolina Hurricanes a surprise 3-2 win to give them the advantage in the best-of-seven series.

It was the franchise's first win at the venue since 1989 and handed the Hurricanes their seventh win in eight matches that have needed overtime in the post-season.

Detroit double

The Red Wings opened the scoring through Sergei Fedorov in the first period, when goaltender Arturs Irbe could only block Steve Yzerman's shot and it fell kindly for Fedorov to score.

Carolina took advantage of a 5-on-3 powerplay opportunity to level the game early in the second period with Sean Hill who drove a shot over Hasek's shoulder .

Detroit regained the lead five minutes later in the second period through Kirk Maltby whose high shot beat Irbe.

But O'Neill tied the match with 50 second left in the second period to prod the puck underneath Hasek.

Game two is in Detroit on Thursday.