DETROIT -- Fifty-eight seconds.

That's how long it took into overtime of Game 1 for Carolina to make it clear that this is going to be a series with a stunning 3-2 victory.

After the 'Canes dumped the puck into the Detroit zone, Wings veteran defenseman Fredrik Olausson picked up the puck and carried it behind his net, hotly pursued by 'Canes forward Jeff O'Neill.

Then, it happened. Olausson dropped his stick, and O'Neill took off with the puck.

"I tried to hit Sami Kapanen going to the net. Then I got the puck back," O'Neill said. "I think when you see a guy standing in front of the net with as many points as Ron Francis has, you've pretty much got to pass it to him."

O'Neill slipped the puck to Francis, who was parked at the top of the crease.

"Jeff made a great play," Francis said. "It sort of bounced in front of the net and came back to him, and he didn't give up on it."

Francis fired the puck past Detroit goalie Dominik Hasek, sending the Wings to defeat in Game 1.

"They dumped the puck into our end, and O'Neill had the puck, and I tried to poke check it, but it was just so fast," said Hasek. "All of a sudden Francis was alone in front and the puck was in the net. I cannot describe it. The puck hit the side of my body, but it was just so fast."

When the puck finally hit twine, Olausson was still behind the net, fumbling for his stick. Why?

We may never know.

Postgame, when everything had slowed down enough for mental review, Olausson didn't come out from the black-curtained medical section of Detroit's locker room to explain.

For the Hurricanes, Francis' late-game heroics were not unexpected. "Ronnie fills every role a player has to fulfill," said 'Canes defenseman Aaron Ward.

Francis is their saving grace, the glue that holds them all together, their do-it-all guy. He wins faceoffs. He hits. He always hustles. He runs the locker room. He scores the game-winning goal nobody on the planet expects anyone on his team to score.

"The bigger the game, the better Ronnie Francis plays," said Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice. "In the past four years, we've played so many critical games during the regular season, when we've been in a dogfight to make the playoffs. Ronnie always plays his best when we need it the most."

And Tuesday, with the game on the line in the Stanley Cup finals, he delivered.

"It went off a couple of bodies. It was kind of a pinball play," said Detroit winger Brendan Shanahan.

So much so, Detroit winger Kirk Maltby didn't even see it. "I was just kind of sliding on the bench when it happened," he said. "I didn't see it develop.

"It just happened so fast."