The Detroit Red Wings had an opportunity to take sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference Sunday, but the Carolina Hurricanes took the lead instead.

Carolina scored three unanswered goals in the second period and outshot the Red Wings by a wide margin for a 5-2 victory at the Lenovo Center.

The Hurricanes (23-11-3, 49 points) are alone atop the East. The Red Wings (22-14-3) are two points behind, after having their three-game winning streak snapped in the first game following the NHL’s three-day Christmas break.

John Gibson had his career-long eight-game winning streak snapped after facing 37 shots.

Brandon Bussi, an undrafted 27-year-old rookie, made 18 saves to improve to 12-1-1. He played three seasons at Western Michigan and one year for the USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks.

Former Red Wings defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and Andrei Svechnikov each contributed a goal and two assists. Gostisbehere has 29 points in 28 games.

Michael Rasmussen and Andrew Copp scored for Detroit.

Copp’s power-play goal at 3:11 of the third – he redirected a pass from John Leonard past Bussi – cut Carolina’s lead to 3-2.

But Svechnikov gave the Hurricanes some breathing room with 6:51 remaining. He capitalized on a turnover in the slot by Dylan Larkin, who slipped and fell while circling to pass the puck.

The Red Wings had a chance to close the gap with a late power play before Jordan Martinook sealed the outcome with an empty-net goal with 1:21 remaining.

The Red Wings host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network).

Rasmussen scored the only goal of the first period, his fifth of the season, at 12:39. J.T. Compher stole the puck from Alexander Nikishin in the offensive zone and set up Rasmussen, who fired a shot from the slot past Bussi.

The Hurricanes responded with three unanswered goals in the second period, including a pair 1:15 apart early in the period.

Jackson Blake tied it at 3:22 by deflecting in a shot from the blue line by Gostisbehere.

Eric Robinson then cleaned up around the net at 4:37 during a three-on-two break.

Gostisbehere put Carolina up 3-1 by firing in a shot from the faceoff circle at 15:22.