A 4-2 win away at Jokerit had sealed first place for Assat, but back in front of their own fans the following evening they were on the wrong end of a 4-2 scoreline against TPS Turku, who made it three wins in a row to go seventh, while ending the Pori side's two-game winning run.
Sakari Kostilainen's shorthanded goal had Assat in front in the first period, and the hosts looked to be cruising to the win when Alexandre Doucet doubled the lead, only for Lukas Werblom and Jeremi Virtanen to level matters before the second period was up. Late in the third, TPS made it four goals unanswered with strikes from Joona Ikonen and Lars Bryggman.
That gave Ilves the chance to reclaim top spot, and they did so be the narrowest of margins - beating Jokerit 4-3 after penalties. Just a second win in five for the Tampere side, while Jokerit are five points from safety having picked up their first point in three matches.
The Helsinki side were on course for all three when Maxime Fortier and Markus Hannikainen put them 2-0 up inside eight minutes, though Jens Looke and Matic Torok drew Ilves level before the end of the period. Jokerit wouldn't lie down and went ahead again in the second through Patrick Curry, only for Ilves to respond again through Tony Sund with a minute gone in the third period. No goals in the final 19 minutes or overtime set up a shootout, in which Aleks Haatanen was the only player to score among the first six penalty takers, giving Ilves the two points they needed to ovetake Assat.
A 3-1 victory over Kiekko-Espoo keeps Lukko third in the table and now just one point behind the two leaders, while Jukurit picked up their first three-point victory in six matches, beating Tappara 3-2 to stay level with Lukko, while the champions have slipped to 11th following back-to-back losses.
There are just two points separating the top six, as SaiPa are knocking on the door of the top four with a 7-1 thumping of IFK Helsinki, who stay in the bottom three, while Karpat drop to sixth despite winning a shootout to beat KooKoo 4-3 after penalties - just a fifth point of the season for KooKoo. In the meeting of the two teams in neither the play-off nor relegation places, KalPa ended their four-game losing run by beating Pelicans 3-1.