The Penrith Panthers and the Storm were locked up 14 - 14 after with only 17 minutes left in the game, before Viliame Kikau leapt across the line and Nathan Cleary put the finishing touches on with a field goal.

The victory seals the Panthers as one of the frontrunners in this year's season so far, and puts an end to a lengthy stretch of defeats to the Storm where the Panthers have generally come off the losing side.

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The Panthers downed the defending premiers in round one, but were defeated last time out by the Parramatta Eels.

"That was big, obviously, coming off of that loss last week, with the footy we were playing, you don't want to lose two in a row," Yeo told NRL.com following the game.

"Coming up against the Storm is always a really big challenge, we spoke about that all week and there were a lot of little things we wanted to fix after the Paramatta game."

"We haven't had much success against them, so it was very pleasing to grind that one out and come out on top of them."

While there was a lot of pressure on the Panthers in the second half, as Melbourne's powerhouse centres put in work, they came up short as the Panthers rallied.

"If you look at their side, they've got some big hombres in the middle, they really picked it up and put in a big phase in the second half, they scored the try off the back of it and I think last week that's where we really struggled," Yeo said.

"That was a big emphasis in the huddle, coming out and making sure those next couple of sets went well, we wanted line speed and a bit of physicality and I thought we matched it well with them, so that's very pleasing."

Yeo put to rest fears over the Panther's inexperience, saying that the youth of the team hadn't contributed to any anxiety over there performance.

"We emphasize it so much during the week, there was probably a touch of panic last week in the huddles, with how we were playing to all of a sudden be on the back of the scoreline, we didn't handle that well," Yeo said.

"Hopefully we can continue that through the year and understand that when teams want to up the pressure, we can match it and go past it."

"That makes this a really big win for the club."

The return of crowds, even in a limited capacity, was also a boost for the club, with Yeo thanking the Panthers' faithful who had made the trip out.

"They were unreal, especially at the end, going over and clapping for them felt like we were back at Panthers' stadium," Yeo said.

"It'll be a lot nicer when we get back there whenever our next home game is, it was pretty could out here tonight, so for them to be here for us, it was a real credit to them."

"They were outstanding."

The Panthers next meet the Rabbitohs on Thursday evening.