Since losing their second match of the season, Ilves have won seven in a row and the last five of those have all come inside 60 minutes, after the leaders won 6-4 at home to Kiekko-Espoo, who drop to eighth following successive losses.
Jens Looke was key for the home side in the first two periods as he gave Ilves an early lead and then equalised at 2-2 after a shorthanded Jere Sallinen goal and one from Eeli Salovaara had turned the match around. Ilves then exploded into life early in the third as Luke Henman, Austin Strand and Lukas Jasek scored three in seven minutes to put the Tampere side 5-2 up.
But KE weren't done there, as Mathias From and Connor Corcoran pulled the gap back to one, only for Erik Borg to finally seal the points for Ilves with an empty-netter in the dying seconds.
JYP's perfect start was ended by Hameenlinna last time out, and they failed to bounce back this evening by going down 4-1 to TPS Turku - a result that saw the visitors drop to fourth, while TPS are up to ninth having ended a two-game losing streak of their own.
Aaro Vidgren's sixth-minute goal would have had JYP believing again, and their joy lasted until the final five minutes of period two, when Veli-Matti Savinainen levelled for the hosts. That goal acted as a catalyst for TPS, and particularly for Lukas Haudum, who scored a 10-minute hat-trick to take the points in style for the Turku side.
Jukurit's winning run was halted by Ilves in their previous outing, and they returned to form with a hard-fought 2-1 win in overtime against KalPa. Elias Vilen put the Kuopio side ahead before Jiro Frilander levelled, then Jacob Hayhurst won it in the fourth minute of OT to keep Jukurit second - a point behind Ilves - while KalPa continue to follow every win up with a loss this season.
SaiPa took advantage of JYP's loss by going third, doing so thanks to a 3-2 win over Jokerit, who slip back to 16th. Alexander Forslund had the visitors ahead after one, but Janne Naukkarinen, Petrus Palmu and Aarne Intonen gave SaiPa a clear lead which made Valtteri Pulli's goal a mere late consolation.
Dropping out of the top four as quickly as they got there were Lukko, whose 5-2 home defeat to Assat in their local derby ended their five-match winning run and the Pori side's three-game losing streak. Goals from Kasper Bjorkqvist and Simon Pinard either side of the 20-minute mark put Assat in control before Henri Ikonen halved the deficit.
Petteri Riihinen's restoration of the two-goal cushion was short-lived, as Mikael Ruohomaa made it 3-2 at the end of two, but period three belonged to the Aces, as Pinard slotted his second before Rami Maatta found the empty net to seal the points and take Assat fifth, one place and point above Lukko.
Pelicans have gone 10th thanks to three goals in both the first and third period which saw them beat winless KooKoo 6-3, with Aidan Dudas scoring two and assisting one. Karpat failed to crack the top four as Sami Paivarinta scored an overtime winner in Hameenlinna's 2-1 victory. IFK Helsinki were 2-1 down in the final minute away at Vaasan Sport, only for Daniel Makiaho to equalise and Jake Leschyshyn to win it, 3-2, in overtime, taking HIFK to within one point of Sport on the other side of the survival line.