With none of their rivals in action this evening, Ilves knew a win would take them to fifth in the table with just three matches to play, but with Hameenlinna on a three-match winning run and desperate to cling onto the final playoff place, points were by no means guaranteed.
And that is how it proved over the first 20 minutes, as neither side broke the deadlock, yet it was Ilves who wasted the opening powerplay after the visitors were guilty of too many men on the ice.
In the second period, Heikki Huttunen was called for high-sticking and after the Lynx again didn't make the most of their man advantage, they were punished by Elmeri Eronen, who buried the puck through traffic after Sami Paivarinta found him in space on the right side.
But the lead lasted all of two minutes, as at the midpoint of the game, Peter Quenneville added another point to his tally when he set up Ondrej Kos to find the equaliser.
That goal came after Otto Latvala and Cameron Wright were penalised for unsportsmanlike conduct, while two calls against Garrett Pyke and a game misconduct call for slashing against Kasper Bjorkqvist were just some of the penalties dished out in a confrontational period.
The hostilities cooled in the third period, but it was Ilves who continued their hot streak - with nine minutes to play, Kos turned provider and found Erik Borg, who had got free in front of goal and hammered a one-timer into the net.
HPK removed the goaltender late on in search of a leveller, only for Luke Henman to win possession and find the empty net in the final minute to seal a 3-1 victory.
It's three wins on the bounce for Ilves, who are now just a point behind JYP, though both they and Lukko in sixth have a game in hand. Hameenlinna still have a four-point cushion over TPS Turku.
Tonight's other match saw Kiekko-Espoo in ninth place join Assat in guaranteeing themselves a wildcard round place with a 4-0 win away at the Pori side.
Aarne Talvitie, Jere Vaisanen and Joonas Rask all found the net in a 02:37 spell early in the second period, before Arvid Aronsson put the result beyond doubt four minutes into the third period.
It's just a second win in five for KE, who are now six points behind the eighth-placed Aces, who in turn have won just one in four as their faint hopes of a top-four place fizzled out at the weekend.
Follow the final matches of the Liiga regular season on Flashscore.