Some costly late West Coast defensive errors have helped St Kilda survive a dramatic mid-match slump to continue their push for an AFL finals berth.

The Saints' 13.4 (82) to 9.7 (61) victory at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night came after surrendering a 43-point lead early in the second quarter, to trail by two points entering the last term.

St Kilda kicked the first seven goals of the match, including scoring 6.1 to 0.1 in the first quarter, with midfielder Leigh Montagna having a sensational start, Nick Dal Santo also firing and late inclusion Justin Koschitzke kicking two first-term goals.

But the Eagles lifted their defensive intensity in the second quarter, Scott Selwood began to restrict Montagna's influence and the Eagles gradually worked their way on top.

They climbed to within 26 points at the long break, then outscored the Saints 4.4 to nothing in the third term.

That put the visitors two points clear and, with ruckman Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui in dominant touch and midfield star Matt Priddis having a big impact after a quiet start, West Coast looked set to run away with victory.

But the Saints showed plenty of grit and regained the lead when forward Stephen Milne kicked his third goal of the night six minutes into the final term.

A sensational snap to Naitanui, after he roved his own tap at a stoppage in the forward pocket, put the Eagles back in the lead midway through the quarter.

Saint Sean Dempster replied with a snap of his own to give the St Kilda back the lead.

The Saints then sealed the match with three quick majors in time-on, two of them due to defensive howlers from Eagle Eric Mackenzie who, until then, had an excellent night blanketing Saints' skipper Nick Riewoldt.

Mackenzie won a free at fullback against Riewoldt, but short-passed straight to Montagna, for an easy Saints goal.

After good work by ruckman Ben McEvoy at the centre ball-up set up another Saints goal to Brett Peake, a Mackenzie fumble allowed the Saints in again, with David Armitage kicking the sealer.

St Kilda's win is their sixth in eight games, taking them within two points of the top eight, although they lost James Gwilt.

The key defender was stretchered off after copping a heavy bump in the third quarter with a suspected anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The Eagles' loss breaks a five-match winning streak and costs them the chance to move into the top four.

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said even if the Saints had not won, they had been determined to put in wholehearted effort to honour coaching great Allan Jeans, who died this week.

"We spoke about it as a playing group, giving great effort today, just to honour the occasion of Allan's passing. He was the greatest leader in St Kilda's history," Lyon said.

"As a playing group and coaching group, we're really proud of the effort we gave today and felt we really honoured the passing of Allan Jeans."

Jeans coached the Saints to their only flag in 1966 and later coached Hawthorn to three premierships.

West Coast coach John Worsfold said the Eagles' fightback was something they would not have managed in recent seasons but it was disappointing the last-quarter errors cost them a chance of victory.

"The margin blew out with a couple of poor mistakes when, if we didn't make those mistakes, we might have been a chance to go down and score at the other end," he said.

"It's disappointing to lose the game, but I was pretty proud of the way the players responded to a good team up and going."

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