Catalan Dragons bounced back from their Challenge Cup defeat by Warrington to notch their fifth win in their last six Super League matches.
But the Dragons were given a fright by bottom club Widnes in a 14-try extravaganza.
Widnes had conceded at least 30 points in every match back in Super League and were determined to make amends for their 76-6 hammering at the hands of the Dragons in March.
The Vikings, who had lost their only two previous meetings against Catalan, welcomed back goal-kicking winger Patrick Ah Van, although Simon Finnigan was out with a broken leg sustained in the Vikings' sixth defeat in a row at Castleford.
Widnes coach Denis Betts recalled Anthony Mullally, who was dropped after rejecting a new contract offer.
Mathias Pala was on the Dragons' bench for his first appearance of the season in place of Daryl Millard.
And the Dragons took less than two minutes to sweep ahead after Scott Dureau's 40-20 kick put the Vikings immediately on the defensive.
Dureau fed Leon Pryce straight from the scrum and Clint Greenshields slid over in the corner.
Catalan looked set to go further ahead but Stefan Marsh intercepted Vincent Duport's pass.
The Vikings relief was short-lived with Steve Menzies taking Dureau's inside pass after 10 minutes to send Pryce over and make it 10-0.
Duport shrugged off Paddy Flynn for the Dragons third try three minutes later and it was all too easy for the Frenchmen.
Menzies let Widnes off the hook by losing the ball over the line before the Vikings were finally stung into action.
Widnes got on the scoresheet midway through the first half with Stefan Marsh taking Rhys Hanbury's pass to cut inside Dureau and Hanbury booted the conversion to cut the gap to 14-6.
A rare Catalan mistake then allowed Joe Mellor to wriggle over and cut the gap to 14-12.
But Pryce put Louis Anderson through a yawning gap to extend the Dragons' lead after 32 minutes with Dureau tagging on the goal.
Then Anderson inexplicably dropped the ball over the line from Pryce to squander another chance.
Widnes had an Ah Van try disallowed for a forward pass from Hanbury, who then ran 80 metres after the half-time hooter to score a spectacular solo breakaway try.
Hanbury booted the conversion and, after being outplayed for most of the first half, Widnes trailed only 20-18 at the break.
The Vikings went ahead early in the second half with a fine Chris Dean try after he slipped a Thomas Bosc tackle following a storming Marsh burst.
But Widnes skipper Jon Clarke was sin-binned after 52 minutes for a late tackle on Dureau.
Vikings sub Lloyd White was taken off with a leg injury but, after Ah Van had a try disallowed, Anderson forced his way over on the hour to restore the Dragons' advantage at 26-22.
Mellor was down injured when Lopini Paea barged his way over with Dureau making it 32-22.
Mellor became the second Widnes player carried off on a stretcher with both tries coming with Clarke in the bin.
But Dave Allen's converted try after Clarke's return closed the gap to 32-28 and then Clarke and Dean put Ah Van over in the corner to level 32-32.
Man of the match Hanbury's conversion edged the Vikings back in front but the lead was short-lived with Bosc scoring too far out for Dureau to convert.
Dureau's late converted try sealed the win.
