The Warriors have held off an at-times dominant Melbourne to snatch a 30-22 win that lifts them to the threshold of the NRL top eight.
The Warriors sealed victory inside the last two minutes of an incident-filled contest in Auckland on Sunday, with fullback Kevin Locke flying high to pluck a Shaun Johnson bomb out of the air to score his side’s fifth try.
The Storm controlled large parts of the contest and will rue spurning a number of good chances.
The defeat means the defending champions, who sit third on the ladder, have now lost four of their past five matches.
But the Warriors, after a dismal start to the campaign, have won seven of their past eight.
Earlier, Melbourne, at 18-4 down, made an electric start to the second half.
The Storm almost conceded a runaway try to Johnson, who was chopped down by centre Will Chambers just out from the corner.
They then hit back with two tries in four minutes, both via their well-oiled attack.
Fullback Billy Slater got the first and centre Maurice Blair the second.
In between, they could have had another but second-rower Ryan Hoffman lost the ball in a Simon Mannering tackle with winger Justin O’Neill unmarked outside him.
With his side down 18-16, skipper Cameron Smith elected to have a shot at goal from a penalty, but his attempt hit a post.
Against the run of play, the Warriors pulled further ahead when centre Konrad Hurrell got his 10th try of the season by finishing off an expansive move.
But Melbourne set up a grandstand finish when halfback Cooper Cronk finished off a sideline break by winger Sisa Waqa.
Smith’s conversion made it a two-point game with five minutes to go, before Locke produced his late heroics.
In front of 20,126 fans, the biggest crowd at Mt Smart Stadium this season, the Warriors raced out to an early 10-0 lead thanks to a double from winger Ngani Laumape.
The second on 12 minutes came after a length-of-the field attack started by Locke fielding a bomb and then setting off on a 60-metre run.
Melbourne then began to gain the upper hand and were rewarded after a huge 40-20 from Cronk.
The Storm scored from the very next tackle, a slick set move finished off by winger Justin O’Neill.
The visitors continued to show their attacking threat, but couldn’t take full toll, letting let slip three further try-scoring opportunities.
After Smith also delivered a 40-20, O’Neill’s pass to an unmarked Waqa went forward.
Waqa then failed to gather a pin-point Cronk cross-kick with the line clear, before O’Neill lost the ball in a collision, which left Locke on report, while in the act of scoring.
The Warriors took advantage of the reprieves by striking via a brilliant solo effort from Thomas Leuluai in the 32nd minute.
The little five-eighth somehow found his way past half a dozen defenders before dotting down with an outstretched hand.