The All Black first five-eighth knocked over a drop goal, with a minute left, to give his side a narrow win over Ireland.
It was uncharted territory for the Canterbury inside back, as New Zealand rugby generally frowns upon looking for a three-pointer from the field to win a game.
"I don't think I have [kicked a winning drop goal] in my career," Carter said.
"I was trying to think back with Fossie [All Black backs coach Ian Foster] whether I have done one in my career and I don't think I have.
It was pretty rewarding. It is more relief than anything, to be honest.
"We knew when the game was tied up territory was going to be a big part of that game.
"We are pretty happy that in the last five minutes we were at the right end of the field."
Carter had his first attempt at scoring the winner charged down, leading to a 5m scrum, and he did not waste his second chance.
"That first one was not the best and we were pretty lucky to get the scrum and be pretty much in the perfect position to try and hit a drop goal.
"Before we put the ball in the scrum we knew exactly what what we were doing. We practise these scenarios and it was good to get the opportunity to seeout the game with it."
Ireland came out steaming with intensity, which the All Blacks failed to match for most of the game.
The men in green looked a completely different team from the one which lost heavily at Eden Park last week.
They had great line speed, and competed well at the breakdown, not giving the All Blacks a chance to get their attacking game going.
Carter paid tribute to the Irish and their ability to keep up the intensity for long periods.
"I thought we showed great character as the Irish played extremely well and had a much better intensity than us ... our backs were up against the wall but we managed to come out and win the game.
"Whether we deserved to win is a tough question but we are really happy that we did win but realise we were up against a much stronger Irish side than last week."
He felt the Irish controlled the gain line much better. That led to an inability to get the ball wide, and the Irish tackling was solid.
The All Blacks never adjusted to that hectic Irish defence, which grew stronger as the game went on.
The match was a million miles away from last week's one-way traffic encounter at Eden Park.
The All Blacks were not accurate enough in the pass, and failed to clear the ball quickly at ruck time to give the backs any space.
Dropped ball at the wrong time did not help either and captain Richie McCaw made a couple of uncharacteristic fumbles.
Ireland saw off some early All Black attacks and halfback Conor Murray scored after 10 minutes, darting around a ruck on the tryline.
Jonathan Sexton added the tricky conversion and he had his kicking boots on most of the night.
Carter managed to keep the All Blacks handy at the break, with three penalties, and halfback Aaron Smith scored early in the second half, pushed over the line by his forward pack after the side had rumbled the ball up.
But the Irish forward pack started dominating, its scrum in particular, and Sexton had the chance to put his side up with less than 10 minutes left, after Israel Dagg was yellow-carded for a late charge.
But he missed with the penalty, Carter landed his effort from the field, and the game was over.
The Irish tight forwards played above themselves and No 8 Jamie Heaslip, in his 50th game, played well.
Best for the home team was Carter, lock Sam Whitelock was busy, and Sam Cane looked at home in his first test, coming on in the second half.
All Blacks v Ireland
The scores
All Blacks 22
Aaron Smith try; Dan Carter con, 4 pen, drop goal
Ireland 19
Conor Murray try; Jonathan Sexton con, 4 pen
Halftime: Ireland 10-9
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