Karpat's 8-7 win over Kiekko-Espoo is not only the highest-scoring match of the season by far but saw the home side go fifth having bounced back from a rare loss last time out, while eighth-placed KE have to make do with a first point in three matches despite a storming comeback.
The hosts looked to be cruising to victory when they were 3-0 up inside 17 minutes through Tommi Tikka, Rasmus Rissanen and Andreas Okany when shorthanded, but Mathias From ensured the visitors would have something to show for their efforts.
The second period was almost a carbon copy of the first, as From again scored for Kiekko, but that bisected two Aleksi Matinmikko strikes, then Rissanen became the third player that period to complete a brace to make it 6-2 to Karpat.
But the away side looked a different side in the third, as Ville Lajunen and Lukas Svejkovsky got them back in the match before Carter King made it a one-goal game with 10 minutes left, and with three minutes to go, Lajunen scored his second to tie the match at 6-6.
All Kiekko-Espoo's hard work looked to have come undone with 58:20 on the clock when Okany struck again to put Karpat back in front, only for Svejkovsky to score once more with a minute left to send the game to overtime.
Again, KE couldn't find the go-ahead goal after levelling, and with 04:38 played in the extra period, Jiri Tichacek buried the 15th and final goal of the game to win it for Karpat. Svejkovsky and Lajunen let the match with four points each, while Matinmikko was Karpat's top scorer with three points.
Ilves' seven-game winning run came to a halt as they were beaten 2-1 by Vaasan Sport, who move four points clear of the bottom three by ending a four-match losing run. Brett Harrison scored twice in the first 13 minutes, and though Erik Borg pulled one back in the 16th, Ilves were unable to find another goal despite more than two period to find one.
The Tampere side remain a point clear in first place as Jukurit fell to a second defeat in three, going down 1-0 to an Assat side who are back up to third following successive wins. Cameron Hillis scored the only goal just past the midway point in the match, as Roope Taponen made 26 saves for the Pori side.