Some late razzle dazzle was a reminder of Graham Henry's team in their prime as they blitzed the visitors 17-3 in the final half hour on Saturday night, playing with speed and width.
It was too late to overhaul a sizeable deficit as the All Blacks ceded the Tri-Nations to South Africa, their 32-29 loss attributable to some hesitant, error-ridden rugby which was seized upon by the king pragmatists of the modern game.
"Hopefully that last 30 min, we really grew as a team. We were under the pump a bit and had to really play well," first five-eighth Carter said.
"We have to take that and start the game next week like that with that confidence and play for a full 80 minutes like that."
That game in six days is the Tri-Nations finale against Australia in Wellington, with both teams scrapping to avoid the wooden spoon.
The Wallabies prevented a Springboks clean sweep of the tournament with a win at Brisbane a week ago, leaving Robbie Deans' men in the box seat for a first win in New Zealand since 2001.
They will face an All Blacks side grappling with their confidence after slumping to a fourth loss in eight tests this year.
Carter, who was largely disappointing at Waikato Stadium aside from his dead-eye goalkicking, believed the pain of another poor performance would drive the New Zealanders this week.
"It's more personal, we're not happy with the way we're executing at the moment," Carter said.
"It's just not up to standard. We really want to go into this game and fix the mistakes we've been making in the Tri-Nations and really finish the campaign strong. I think we've got the players in our team to do it and we've shown it in patches.
"The second half here and the second half in Sydney. It's a matter of going out and trusting each other for the full 80."
The pattern of New Zealand tests at the moment is to start sluggishly and then come storming home.
Tries to winger Sitiveni Sivivatu and captain Richie McCaw and a late New Zealand surge after the hooter frayed the nerves of the tiring South Africans before Carter sent his attacking cross kick into touch over the head of leaping lock Isaac Ross.
It left a nagging question: Was it a test the hosts could have won if they adopted such attacking intent from the outset?
Perhaps scarred by criticism from the nature of their helter-skelter loss at Durban last month, the All Blacks disappeared inside a conservative shell until backed up against the wall.
"I don't know if we let it slip, we didn't play well enough in the first 50 minutes," Carter said.
"We gave away too many penalties and couldn't get into the game because they were kicking goals from everywhere and at set piece we just weren't executing."
Lock Brad Thorn said the All Blacks simply needed to "loosen up" for what will be his ninth test against his former country of residence.
"That's probably when New Zealanders play good rugby," said Thorn, who believed there was plenty at stake.
"I hate losing fullstop. It's a test match against the Wallabies and that's huge to us."
