Of the four Finnish teams competing in Europe around this weekend, only Ilves were active domestically, and the Tampere team overcame the disappointment of their 6-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk by defeating VPS 3-2.
Joona Veteli set Ilves on their path midway through the first half, but they were quickly equalized after half-time by Maissa Fall.
Things worsened for the Lynx 15 minutes before the end when Anton Popvitch scored an own goal, only for them to level the score with another own goal 10 minutes later, thanks to the unfortunate Tyler Reid.
With just a minute left in regulation, the home team secured the winner through Marius Soderback, bringing Ilves to second in the standings and maintaining their unbeaten streak in the last four matches. VPS is in seventh place after suffering their fourth consecutive defeat.
Second place was the highest Ilves could achieve after Inter Turku defeated 3-1 against Jaro to remain at the top and extend their unbeaten streak to 15 matches in the league this season.
The win was secured before halftime - 21 minutes in, Florian Krebs assisted Luka Kuittinen for Inter's first goal, and the same pair combined again five minutes before halftime to double the lead to 2-0.
In stoppage time of the first half, Turku nearly sealed the victory by scoring a third goal, with Loic Essomba setting up Jasse Tuominen to score.
Filip Valencic reduced the deficit for Jaro in the 77th minute, but it marked two consecutive wins and nine for the season for the home side, while Jaro is in ninth place after their first defeat in three matches.
On Sunday, the relegation battle was won 3-2 by AC Oulu, who climbed off the bottom of the table, replacing KTP.
Mitchell Glasson had given KTP the lead at halftime, but goals from Justin Rennicks, Adramane Cassama and newcomer Shayon Harrison turned the game in Oulu's favor. Assan Seck scored for KTP, but it was too late to make a difference.
Oulu has now earned seven points from their last three games after collecting five from their first 12. KTP, in contrast, has managed only one point from their last three matches.
After four matches without a win, Gnistan secured three points with a 2-0 victory over Haka, despite playing 78 minutes with 10 men following Alexandro Craninx's early red card.
Oliver Pettersson put the Helsinki side ahead 10 minutes into the second half, and a Tim Vayrynen penalty 15 minutes later confirmed the result and condemned Haka to their fourth league defeat in five matches.
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