Melbourne's early season slumber appears to be coming to an end, the Storm serving up a finals-like defensive display to help down South Sydney 18-10 at Stadium Australia.
That came after the Panthers smashed the Raiders 53-12 thanks to a devastating second half in Canberra.
Blasted by their coach for a lack of care factor to start the season, the Storm risked dropping to a 2-3 record with a loss on Friday night, which would've marked their equal-worst start to a season under Craig Bellamy.
But with the game in the balance, Melbourne's teamwork in the red zone and the efforts of talisman Cameron Munster proved enough to secure their third win of the campaign.
The Rabbitohs, meanwhile have dropped three of their first five games and will lose Alex Johnston for next week's game after the prolific winger failed his head injury assessment late.
Just after the break a Munster break showed the Storm's intent, and on the next set Xavier Coates bolted down the left and snapped a banana kick inside to his five-eighth, who recovered the ball for a try that had the Storm up 18-6.
Superstar Rabbitohs fullback Latrell Mitchell had been having a quiet night to that point, running for only 34 metres in the first half, but injected himself into the contest late to give the Rabbitohs a sniff.
The Storm's goal-line defence had frustrated Souths all night long, but Mitchell found the overlap on the Rabbitohs' increasingly prolific right side and Campbell Graham had it back to an eight-point game.
The fullback almost had a try of his own shortly afterwards, only to be denied by the Storm's team defence.
State of Origin hooker Harry Grant was immense through the middle but perhaps the most significant individual play of the night belonged to stand-in Storm fullback Nick Meaney, who denied Johnston with a gutsy one-on-one tackle at close range.
Johnston and Meaney's heads clashed in the hit and the Rabbitoh was sent for a HIA, which he failed.
Encouragingly, Melbourne were able to score both their first-half tries without the assistance of Munster, whose absence in round two and three left the Storm floundering.
With Jahrome Hughes back from suspension next week, young halfback Jonah Pezet made the most of what is likely to be his last chance in the halves until the State of Origin period.
The rookie set the opening try up with a lovely chip kick but was the target of a Souths set play shortly afterwards that allowed the hosts to draw level through his opposite man Cody Walker.
The win means the Storm have won 13 of their last 15 games against the Rabbitohs, and 32 of 38 clashes overall.
Panthers power past Raiders in Canberra
Reigning premiers Penrith have reminded the NRL of their championship credentials, smashing Canberra 53-12 to leave the Raiders' season in serious early trouble.
Doubles for winger Sunia Turuva and centre Izack Tago along with some Nathan Cleary magic ensured the Panthers were always in command in Canberra, the visitors ultimately blowing the Raiders away with a six-try second-half barrage.
Ricky Stuart's men are reeling at 1-4 for the season and looked uncompetitive against the league's best in the absence of key playmakers Jack Wighton and Xavier Savage, collapsing defensively late in the piece as the Panthers scored for fun.
They'd dominated first-half territory but looked one-dimensional on the Panthers' line, relying on crash balls and struggling to find avenues to the in-goal out wide.
But after looking up for the battle early, their heads dropped in a second-half whitewash that included three tries in the first 13 minutes.
Turuva's first try was as simple as placing the ball down after Tago gathered a gorgeous Cleary kick and put him through, but his second was a long way from easy.
Capping a nine-pass, four-offload final-tackle scramble, Turuva kicked, gathered and grounded his own ball to put the Panthers 12-0 clear.
Canberra finally made their territory count after a cheeky Zac Woolford kick from dummy-half found Elliot Whitehead, moments after Penrith centre Stephen Crichton copped 10 minutes in the sin bin for repeated infringements.
But it was a rare highlight as Penrith hit top gear, Tago finding a six-minute double and Cleary scoring himself, strolling over the line after a Canberra defensive collapse.
Raiders second-rower Hudson Young got them back to 29-12 although Panthers edge Zac Hosking soon returned the favour, with bench hooker Tyrone Peachey crossing in his first game back at the club.
Bench second-rower Jaeman Salmon scored late in his first game in Canberra since Raiders coach Stuart labelled him a "weak-gutted dog" last season.
It was easily the Panthers' most complete performance of the season, squaring the ledger at 2-2 with both their losses coming by a single point.
Canberra miss suspended Wighton again next week versus Brisbane and there'll be little respite on the injury front, with none of Savage, winger Nick Cotric or hooker Danny Levi due back.
AAP
