Nottingham Panthers recovered from Saturday's humbling defeat to local rivals Sheffield Steelers to triumph 3-1 over Belfast Giants and move level on points with their second-placed opponents.
It will be a big blow to the Giants who had hoped to close the gap further on Coventry Blaze after beating the Elite League leaders on Saturday.
Nottingham are almost invincible at home as they have now stretched their winning run to 13 games, a current club record in the Elite League era.
Having gone behind to an early first period strike the home side hit back with two in the second period including the game winner from David Clarke and then added an insurance goal in the third period.
The game got off to an explosive start as Kevin Bergin and Sean McMorrow were binned on 5 minute majors for fighting with only 2 seconds on the clock. Belfast netted the only goal of the period as Jeff Szwez (28th) dispatched the puck away at 3.49 with a shorthanded goal.
The home side were back on level terms early in the second period as Jay Henderson (2nd) found the net at 21.04. They then took the lead at 25.38 as David Clarke (32nd) fired home on the powerplay.
The game remained close throughout the third period and Belfast had a great chance to level things up as they went on a 5 on 3 powerplay in the 48th minute but Nottingham held firm and killed off both penalties. This gave them confidence and Stephen Lee (2nd) netted at 55.01 and at that point there was no way back for the Giants.
Coventry put Saturday's defeat firmly to the back of their minds as they stormed to a 5-1 triumph over Sheffield, to move five points clear with a game in hand on Belfast and two on Nottingham.
Hull Stingrays suffered their second loss in as many days as they crashed in a 7-0 rout at Cardiff Devils.
Elsewhere, Edinburgh Capitals beat Newcastle Vipers 5-2.
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