Three points would have taken SaiPa top of the standings on goal difference, but instead they fell to a second defeat in four and stay in fourth place, as a 4-1 success for Karpat was the home side's second win in a row. The Oulu side are up to eighth in the table.
Eetu Koivistoinen and Eemil Erholtz scored just over two minutes apart to put Karpat 2-0 ahead after one period, and though Maxim Korpimaki's strike was met by a shorthanded response from Otto Hokkanen, Samuli Ratinen made it 4-1 on the same powerplay to wrap up the scoring with over 27 minutes to play.
Kiekko-Espoo are now just a place and a point behind SaiPa thanks to a 4-2 victory over TPS Turku - KE have climbed the table of late with three wins in their last four, while TPS have gone in the other direction, slipping to 10th with three losses in their last four.
After a goalless first period, the home side brought the match to life with two goals in under 20 seconds from Connor Corcoran and Jere Vaisanen in the fourth minute of the second, before Lukas Svejkovsky added a third before the midway point approached. Linus Oberg made it 4-0 in the final period before Lukas Haudum and Jeremi Virtanen added some respectability to the score for TPS.
Tappara have now won four and lost four this season and half of those matches featured shutouts - three of which have come in victory, with the latest a 3-0 win over KooKoo, who have now lost nine out of nine this season and have gone four matches without adding to their solitary point this season.
Otto Rauhala scored in the first period, Kasper Simontaival in the second and Aapeli Rasanen in the third, as shutout king Christian Heljanko made 22 saves over the 60 minutes, though was helped out by a video review ruling out a goal for Ville Meskanen in period two.
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