Tappara suffered defeat in the derby to Ilves in their previous match, and their difficult campaign saw them go into the break with three defeats in their last four, losing 3-0 at home to Hameenlinna, who went five points clear of the bottom three.
Three players were sent to the box just three minutes in for fighting, but once tempers had cooled, Sami Paivarinta opened the scoring in the 13th minute. In their attempts to reply, Tappara couldn't find a way past Kim Saarinen, as the HPK goalkeeper made 25 saves in all for an impressive shutout on the road, before Harri Kainulainen and Ethan de Jong both scored empty-net goals to complete the win.
That match was the only one on Sunday 1st, but on Saturday 31st Ilves cut Lukko's lead at the top to three points with a 1-0 win over KalPa, but the three teams immediately below them all kept pace, as Jukurit won 2-1 at Karpat, JYP beat Jokerit 5-4 after overtime and Assat won 2-1 at Vaasan Sport.
Kiekko-Espoo also registered a shutout by winning 3-0 at Pelicans, they sit ninth, two places above IFK Helsinki, who won 3-1 away at strugglers KooKoo.