Teemu Selanne scored 11:57 into overtime to put the Anaheim Ducks within one win of reaching the Stanley Cup final with a 2-1 comeback victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday at Joe Louis Arena.

As Detroit defenceman Andreas Lilja tried to lug the puck out from behind his own net, Ducks forward Andy McDonald forced him to turn it over in the slot to Selanne, who deked Dominik Hasek before lifting a backhand over the sprawling Red Wings goalie.

Anaheim winger Teemu Selanne lifts the overtime winner over Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek to end Game 5 of the Western Conference final.
(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

"I've been practising that move my whole life," Selanne said. "I knew I had to get it up. He goes down and covers up everything down low."

Lilja admitted his mistake cost the Wings dearly.

"It's not supposed to happen, but it happens," he said. "It hurts, but we have to put this behind us and move on."

The Ducks now hold a 3-2 lead in the teams' best-of-seven Western Conference final series, with Game 6 set for Tuesday in Anaheim (CBC, 9 p.m. ET).

If the Ducks win Tuesday, they'll earn a berth in the Cup final against the Ottawa Senators, who knocked off the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday to capture the Eastern Conference title.

Detroit looked to be on its way to a shutout victory on the strength of a second-period goal by Lilja. But a power-play marker by Scott Niedermayer tied the game with 47.3 seconds remaining in regulation.

With Pavel Datsyuk off for interference and Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere pulled for an extra attacker, Red Wings defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom tried to block Niedermayer's low shot by laying his stick across the ice. But the puck bounced off Lidstrom's lumber and over the shoulder of Hasek.

"It's a good move — when it works," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said of the strategy to yank Giguere in favour of a 6-on-4 advantage.

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said the deflection off Lidstrom's stick is just part of the game.

"That's hockey," Babcock said. "But when that break goes our way, we don't overanalyze that. We just take the break. When it goes against you, I don't think you want to spend a whole lot of time analyzing that."

Anaheim defenceman Chris Pronger assisted on the goal in his return to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension for his hit on Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom in Game 3.

Before Lilja's overtime gaffe turned him into the goat, the 31-year-old defenceman, who did not register a goal in 57 regular-season games, was on track to become the unlikely hero of Sunday's game.

Accepting a feed at the left point from Daniel Cleary, Lilja moved to the top of the face-off circle and blasted a perfect slapshot past the glove of Giguere to put Detroit up 1-0 at 6:13 of the second.

Lilja's first career playoff goal was the only blemish on the day for Giguere, who kept his sluggish team in the game with 36 saves, and ran his career playoff overtime record to 12-1.

"I just wanted to make sure we still had a chance," Giguere said. "I can't control what we do offensively. I can't control what Hasek does. I can only control what I bring to the team."

Hasek wasn't as busy in facing 26 shots, though he saw eight in overtime compared with three for Giguere.

With files from the Associated Press