Melbourne have locked down a top-two ladder position with two rounds to play after holding out Canterbury in their blockbuster NRL showdown.
Following a golden-point victory by Canberra over Penrith that put the Raiders in prime position to claim the minor premiership earlier on Friday night, the Storm were forced to work hard for a 20-14 win over a much-improved Bulldogs outfit.
The match also almost went to golden point when Canterbury looked to have scored with just over a minute remaining off a Matt Burton bomb, which would have locked up the match with a successful conversion.
But the bunker ruled a knock-on by skipper Stephen Crichton.
The AAMI Park victory put Melbourne four points clear of third-placed Canterbury, but they have a far superior points differential.
The Storm took a 12-0 lead into halftime but hooker Bailey Hayward burrowed over from dummy-half to put his team on the scoreboard in the 43rd minute.
Melbourne then lost prop Tui Kamikamica to a head knock and skipper Harry Grant to the sin bin for a no-arms shot on Harry Hayes.
It looked like the visitors would take advantage immediately but Ryan Papenhuyzen managed to dislodge the ball from Jacob Kiraz as he dived over the tryline.
Instead it was the Storm pushing the margin out to 18-6 when Jonah Pezet put through a pin-point crossfield kick into the in-goal for Xavier Coates to score.
Canterbury, who last week were humbled 32-12 by the Sydney Roosters, showed their fighting spirit with halfback Lachlan Galvin mixing up the attack with a fresh running game.
Hayes looked certain to score after he made a 35 metre dash but was unsupported and lost the ball thanks to a heavy tackle from Coates, with the Bulldogs second-rower injuring his knee.
They were finally rewarded in the 69th minute with a Kiraz try before Crichton caused some nervous moments for the home side.