Liiga roundup: SaiPa come from three down to beat Assat in overtime and go second

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/saipa/Q9sYH4O9/"]SaiPa[/a] beat [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/assat-pori/I9wm5xTA/"]Assat[/a] 4-0 in the second match of what was a three-match losing streak coming into this game for the Pori side, but revenge looked possible midway through the first half, when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lipiainen-valtteri/xU4wVg25/"]Valtteri Lipiainen[/a]'s saved shot was tucked home on the rebound by Feetu Knihti.[/p][p]Things got better for the hosts before the first period was over, after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/salomaki-miikka/vgk8rz7M/"]Miikka Salomaki[/a] was penalised for slashing, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tiivola-peter/0U8eTa5q/"]Peter Tiivola[/a] made use of the space inside the SaiPa zone to finish coolly on the powerplay.[/p][p]That goal was timed at 18:29, and at 18:28 in the second period, [b]Assat struck again when a stretched away defence gave [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/puutio-kasper/tfZrHSIl/"]Kasper Puutio[/a] too much room to fire in goal number three from the left side.[/b][/p][p]However, SaiPa gave themselves hope in the final minute of the second, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tauslahti-miro/SQv3Cutf/"]Miro Tauslahti[/a] played the puck across to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kramer-brian/8GEHAPxJ/"]Brain Kramer[/a] in space on the right, and he powered the puck across the goaltender for 3-1.[/p][p]That goal gave the Lappeenranta side plenty of belief, and when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fortier-maxime/4lvbJve9/"]Maxime Fortier[/a] worked hard in front of the net four minutes into period three, he was rewarded with a goal to make it a one-goal game.[/p][p]SaiPa then survived a pair of interference calls before completing the comeback with just 11 seconds left of regulation - [b]they threw on an extra attacker, maintained possession inside the Assat zone and found the arriving [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/emil-kuusla/rqxZrdAp/"]Emil Kuusla[/a] to slam the puck home and send it to overtime.[/b][/p][embed guid="c34c3d31-2503-48e4-a641-93734fc775bb" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hbyxcYQzkc" social-type="youtube" /][p]With the stuffing knocked out of the Aces, there was only going to be one winner in the extra period, and just over two minutes in, [b]Kramer drove through the Assat zone all on his own and struck his second of the game to win it [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/assat-I9wm5xTA/saipa-Q9sYH4O9/?mid=hhbIsafC"]4-3[/a].[/b][/p][p]Assat remain in eighth place, now eight points behind [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ilves-tampere/Oh5uGzDT/"]Ilves[/a] in seventh and 11 points off the top four. Two more points for SaiPa is enough for them to climb to second, three points behind [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tappara/llrWVOwG/"]Tappara[/a], as they extended the current-best winning run in the Liiga to five matches.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/hockey/finland/liiga/"]Follow the Liiga season on Flashscore.[/a][/p]