On Tuesday, Assat lost for the second match running, going down 5-3 at home to Kiekko-Espoo, which opened the door for JYP to go outright clear by beating Pelicans, or for Tappara to take top spot on goal difference if they could beat Jukurit this evening.
But the occasion clearly got the better of JYP, who were 3-0 down on the road inside 20 minutes courtesy of Hampus Falk, Aaro Chrons and Aidan Dudas strikes for Pelicans, before Ossi-Veikka Vuontisvaara pulled one back for the visitors who fell to a 3-1 defeat.
The Lahti side's win came as more of a surprise given they had failed to score 24 hours earlier in a 3-0 loss to Ilves.
That gave Tappara the chance to move from third to first by beating the same side they met in Mikkeli at the weekend, with Tappara needing overtime to earn the win. Tonight they reqired all three points to go top, so would need to get the job done in 60 minutes on home ice.
With Jukurit in poor form, that looked a simple task for the home side, and so it was proving when Joachim Blichfeld took advantage of the first powerplay of the match to give his side the lead with just over five minutes to play in the first period, before Eetu Tuulola made it 2-0 early in the second.
Though Thomas Olsen got Jukurit on the board soon after, the lead was back to two goals when Benjamin Rautiainen responded with 02:32 left in the period.
But the visitors not only made a game of it in the third period, but drew level; ill-discipline early on allowed Connor Ford to reduce the deficit, before Jesper Piitulainen tied the match with still over six minutes remaining.
The two teams and the Tampere crowd were ready for overtime, except for Blichfeld, who was in the right place at the right time to force the puck into the net with just seven seconds to play, sending Tappara to the Liiga summit with a 4-3 win.
They have done it by winning four matches on the bounce, while it's five losses in a row for Jukurit, who drop to ninth.
Having beaten the then-leaders Assat last night, Kiekko-Espoo followed that up by holding on to beat struggling Vaasan-Sport 3-2 away from home to stay in fifth place. Sport are now just one point off the foot of the table as IFK Helsinki picked up a rare away win over Lukko, 3-1.
Lukko sit sixth and have SaiPa breathing down their necks again after they ended their losing run in comprehensive style, thrashing TPS Turku 6-1. KalPa kept pace with last season's beaten Playoff finalists by seeing Hameenlinna off 4-1.
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