Parramatta captain Nathan Hindmarsh wound back the clock with two superb plays and Chris Sandow nailed a last-minute field-goal as the Eels came from behind to score a dramatic 19-18 golden point win in Round 16 last season.
A clash of the two lowest-placed clubs far exceeded its lowly billing as the western Sydney rivals treated the crowd of 15,275 to an NRL classic.
Trailing 18-6 with 15 minutes remaining thanks to a length-of-the-field intercept from Etu Uaisele and a clever team try finished off by David Simmons from the very next set, the visitors looked destined for yet another loss until Hindmarsh stepped up to the plate.
In the 68th minute he brushed aside a defender and broke free down the left edge before sending Luke Burt over between the sticks to close the gap to six. Then five minutes later Hindmarsh pushed his nose through the line again and threw a brilliant offload to Fuifui Moimoi who raced clear before giving Jarryd Hayne a free run to the line.
That try set up a thrilling finish, with both sides missing field-goal shots in the dying stages to send the game into golden point.
Parramatta came closest to taking the win when Ken Sio touched down just millimetres over the deadball line from a kick and it looked destined to finish all square until Sandow snapped his field-goal with just 35 seconds remaining to steal a dramatic victory.
A surprisingly high-quality game saw both sides make plenty of metres through the middle, with Parramatta running for a massive 1,845 metres and Penrith not far behind with 1,722.
Hindmarsh was brilliant for the Eels with 199 metres and 43 tackles to go with his match-winning plays, while Hayne ran for a game-high 247 metres and Ryan Morgan 217.
Lachlan Coote impressed for Penrith with 191 metres, four tackle-breaks and 259 kick metres while Luke Lewis scored a try and made 187 metres.
