Things could have been much worse for Assat away at Jukurit as, following a goalless opening period, the home side took the lead in the fourth minute of the second through Jesper Piitulainen, before Eemeli Saari doubled their advantage 10 minutes later.
The visitors responded well, and took less than a minute to get back in the match thanks to a Patrik Juhola strike. That's how things stayed until just over six minutes to play, when the Aces drew level with a goal from Linus Nyman to send the match to overtime.
Having been pegged back, the Mikkeli side must have been expecting the inevitable, and it arrived in the second minute of the extra period, as Otso Ylitalo's won the match for Assat, 3-2.
It's a fourth win in succession for Jarno Pikkarainen's team, with two in a row coming in overtime. Jukurit remain in sixth place following a third loss in a row.
Second-placed JYP also recorded a victory but were unable to close the gap as they also needed overtime, finally seeing off Lukko, 4-3 at home, for their fourth win in succession.
There were no goals in the first 20 minutes of this one, either, before Alexander True scored in the second minute of the second period to give the hosts the lead, and though Henri Ikonen quickly drew Lukko level, Sami Vatanen ensured JYP went into the final 20 minutes ahead.
But Eric Gelinas' early strike in the third period levelled the scores again, and when Daniel Torgersson gave the Jyvaskyla side the lead for the third time, again Lukko hit back, courtesy of Mikael Ruohomaa.
However, when Leevi Tukiainen put the home side ahead for the fourth time, there was no coming back for the Champions Hockey League quarter-finalists, as that goal came three minutes into overtime, giving JYP a hard-earned win, meaning Lukko failed to climb into the top four.
Friday's other two matches both ended 4-0 - Eetu Makiniemi made 19 saves as his TPS Turku side won away at Karpat to move into seventh, while Hameenlinna breezed past last-placed IFK Helsinki thanks to 25 stops from teenage goaltender Kim Saarinen, which sees them go ninth.
Two matches on Thursday went the distance - Pelicans put an end to their three-match losing run and extended SaiPa's to four with a Miro Vaananen goal 32 seconds into overtime to win 3-2, while third-placed Tappara needed a 2-0 shootout success to win 4-3 against struggling Vaasan Sport.
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