SaiPa had been quietly building a winning run with many victories coming against some of the lower or mid-ranking sides, but victory over Lukko on Friday had forced many to sit up and take notice.
An away trip to another team in the top three, JYP, just 24 hours later, was potentially a game too far, and the home side looked to have quelled the SaiPa attack as the first period ended goalless.
However, the JYP defence was powerless to stop Patrik Siikanen four minutes into the second period, before Henri Nikkanen doubled the Lappeenranta men's lead just before the midpoint of the match.
A high sticking call against Samu Bau with 10 minutes to play gave JYP the invitation they needed to get back into the game, as Daniel Torgersson notched a powerplay goal to get it back to 2-1. But that wasn't enough for JYP to avoid a second home defeat in their last three, as they drop to third.
JYP and SaiPa are two of four teams all sitting on 58 points, along with Lukko and KooKoo. A 4-2 win over Hameenlinna was enough for Lukko to recover from their loss to SaiPa and climb back into second place, while KooKoo drop to fifth despite a 2-1 overtime victory over KalPa.
Robert Rooba scored after 24 seconds of the match for KooKoo, then Marcus Davidsson won it for them 29 seconds into overtime, but a two-point victory was not enough to keep their top-four status. KalPa drop to ninth after successive losses, while Hameenlinna now sit one off the bottom.
But the 58-point gang now trail Liiga leaders Tappara by five points, after they enacted revenge on last-placed Vaasan Sport with a 5-0 victory, 24 hours after the same side shocked them 4-2.
Sport had clearly angered the Tampere side, who took the lead after seven minutes through Aleksi Matinmikko, before tempers started to boil over in a frantic first period which saw seven penalties handed out, including ejections for Ondrej Pavel and Valtteri Hietanen for fighting.
Amongst the madness, Aapeli Rasanen made it 2-0 before Daniel Brickley added an inevitable powerplay goal with five minutes left. There was still time for Verneri Ahonen to add a fourth with just over a minute to play.
The penalties kept coming in the second period, though the goals dried up. Having allowed the Vaasa side just five shots on goal in the first, the visitors hit them with 13 in the second 20 minutes, but Christian Heljanko stood firm in the Tappara goal, going on to make 26 saves in total.
Tappara finally added a fifth with a little more than five minutes of the match to play, through Joachim Blichfeld, closing out just a second win in four, while Sport are eight points behind Hameenlinna.
Hameenlinna's continued drop is also down to Karpat, who needed penalties to earn a second win in a row, winning 2-1 at home to Jukurit, who remain in the 12th and final Playoff place. Jukurit have TPS Turku to thank for keeping them there, as they came from behind to beat IFK Helsinki, 4-3.
TPS are now in eighth, one place below Ilves, whose winning run now stands at six matches as they put in a controlled performance on the road at Kiekko-Espoo, taking a 5-2 victory that sees them hit the 50-point mark and the Espoo side slump to four losses in a row.
Remarkably, one place in the table now separates early strugglers Ilves and long-time leaders Assat, as the Pori side join Kiekko-Espoo on four defeats in a row.
Having been beaten by Pelicans on penalties on Friday night, this time the Aces were downed in overtime in Lahti, as Aidan Dudas notched the winning goal in the extra period, sealing a 2-1 win, the fifth win in a row for the side now sitting in 10th place.
