It took the gloss off a wonderful Dragons performance, particularly by Jamie Soward who capped his effort with a brilliant individual try just before fulltime.
Soward also contributed to his side's tally by kicking seven goals - two penalties and five conversions.
First-half errors by the Tigers made the Dragons' job easier, and they were ahead 14-4 at halftime.
But after a fiery halftime speech from coach Tim Sheens, the Tigers came back playing like a team that had just been given a rev-up and Benji Marshall and Chris Lawrence combined to put Lote Tuqiri away for his ninth try of the year from inside their own half.
The methodical Dragons hit back in clinical fashion to reassert their supremacy and put the result beyond doubt.
For Penrith, Jennings' night began with a classy offload in traffic for Brad Tighe's fifth-minute try. Then he backed up a pass from Frank Pritchard which led to a Trent Waterhouse four-pointer in the 19th minute.
He clapped on the accelerator before throwing a deft dummy to split two Sea Eagles defenders in the 26th and grabbed a second half intercept to seal the deal for the Panthers.
But he saved the best for last, creating then finishing his third with a great step and superb hands.
The home side racked up seven tries to Manly's four.
Penrith backed up last week's impressive away win over Brisbane to quieten those doubting their second place on the ladder and have won five of their last six games.
They led 24-6 at halftime after both sides came up with 100 per cent completions in the first half.
Manly were far from poor, and even had a 6-4 lead after 13th minute Kieran Foran try.
- AAP
