Coach Ross Lyon is lauding St Kilda's emerging spirit after holding off a fast-finishing Port Adelaide for a precious 17-point away victory.

The Saints banked a third consecutive win with a gutsy 13.11 (89) to 10.12 (72) triumph at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

After St Kilda led by 31 points late in the second term, the Power surged to within five points with eight minutes remaining in the game.

But the plucky Saints responded with the next two majors, including a classy long-bomb from the influential Jack Sinclair, to be entrenched in the top eight with three wins and a loss.

"Our last three minutes was really strong," Lyon said.

"We are young, I think we had 10 players with basically less than 10 games or second-year (in the AFL).

"Is it maturity? I think their capacity to learn ... (from) those older guys helps those guys from not tightening up and focusing on executing what you need to do in that moment, so that was good."

The Power (one win, three defeats) are precariously placed ahead of a Gather Round grudge match against unbeaten ladder-leaders Hawthorn.

The fixture is a rematch of last season's bitter semi-final when, after Port's three-point win, Hinkley was fined $20,000 for sledging Hawks players.

On Sunday, Port trailed by a match-high margin of 31 points late in the second quarter and were 16 points down at three-quarter time.

The Power then charged with Ollie Lord and Mitch Georgiades scoring goals to be down by just five.

Sinclair's brilliant goal on the run five minutes later steadied the Saints, who iced victory with a Lance Collard conversion after a strong overhead mark.

But Port coach Hinkley, rather than lamenting the finish, bemoaned his side's start when St Kilda booted six consecutive majors to lead by 30 points in the first term.

"We gave them too much power around the ball, we gave them too many opportunities to score," Hinkley said.

"We were poor around the ball at the start of the game and that really hurt us at the end.

"Because after that, I thought it was actually, being fair, the game was played on our terms a fair bit."

St Kilda forward Jack Higgins booted three goals and Mitch Owens two.

Veteran Sinclair's late major was an exclamation point on a fine 25-disposal display while recruit Jack Macrae (28 possessions) and classy halfback Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (25 touches) were instrumental.

Port's tall forwards Lord and Georgiades kicked three goals each, as did Jason Horne-Francis, who also collected 28 possessions in a dual midfield-forward role.

Power vice-captain Zak Butters gathered a match-high 30 touches in his first game of the season.

And Butters, already the league's most fined player, is a near certainty to cop another financial hit after sparking a melee featuring about 20 players just five minutes into the game.