The Hurricanes were made to work hard as they secured a 29-23 bonus point win against the Crusaders in Wellington.
Beauden Barrett scored a try and booted nine points for the home side who also had tries from Brad Shields, Reggie Goodes and Blade Thomson.
Colin Slade contributed 18 points for the Crusaders while Dan Carter also touched down but it was the Hurricanes who took their record this season to nine wins from 10 games.
The Crusaders opened the scoring after just two minutes as Slade made all the running and found Carter who went over with Slade adding the conversion.
But the home side were level just seven minutes later when Barrett collected a wayward pass from Slade and sprinted for the line before converting his own score.
It was a frenetic start and the Hurricanes had their second try after just 12 minutes. Nehe Milner-Skudder, Ardie Savea and Conrad Smith all combined to allow Shields to get on the scoresheet.
Barrett's conversion made it 14-7 but after Ma'a Nonu was sin-binned for having his hands in the ruck, Slade booted a penalty to reduce the deficit.
And the Crusaders made further use of their numerical advantage a minute later when Slade burst through a gap to score and converted his own try.
That gave the visitors a three-point lead but Barrett's penalty just before the break ensured the scores were level at half-time.
Slade then kicked the Crusaders in front but the lead did not last long as Goodes went over from close range and Barrett again split the posts.
Another Slade penalty cut the gap to a single point but Thomson then scored for the Canes after good work from Barrett, James Broadhurst and TJ Perenara.
And despite a spell of late pressure from the Crusaders, the Hurricanes held on for the win.
Source: PA
