Henderson played his part in the Blues’ late rally, however Brett Ratten’s team fell nine points short.
An inaccurate start and perhaps a lack of manpower - following an early injury to ruckman Matthew Kreuzer - cost Carlton as it went down 14.12 (96) to 12.15 (87).
The Blues has trailed by as much as 34 points at one stage, and were still behind by more than five goals approaching the half-way point of the final term.
That was before Eddie Betts and Henderson got involved.
Betts booted four for the term and Henderson, in his first season at Visy Park, added two in an impressive showing.
However not even six final-quarter goals from the duo could get Carlton home.
“You can take a little bit away from that finish, but it’s a really flat feeling,” Henderson told carltonfc.com.au after the match.
“We really blew our chances in the first half. We were winning all the things we wanted to win but we just couldn’t put it on the scoreboard which really hurt us.
“It’s one that we really wanted to get, and we just didn’t play well and they’re a quality side they played well tonight and we just didn’t take our chances.
“We’ve now got Brisbane on Thursday night in two weeks, so that’ll be a big game for us. We’ve really got to scratch and claw our way back to what we were playing two or three weeks ago.”
Carlton was sixth heading into the clash and desperate to atone for its disappointing loss to North Melbourne the previous week.
Henderson said the side’s dreadful conversion in front of goal early - the Blues were 1.12 at one stage late in the second quarter - cost it dearly, with each miss raising anxiety levels.
“Pressure sort of mounts [with each miss],” Henderson said.
“You think ‘two or three have been missed before and you need to kick this one’ and that little bit of pressure might tense you up a little bit, so you could say that. But it’s just one of those things, I think.
“You miss, you miss. You shoot and you score, you score.”
Henderson was not a culprit in front of goal on the night.
In fact his form was one of a few bright spots for Carlton fans.
The 20-year-old came into the side to replace the out-of-sorts Setanta O’hAilpin.
While more concerned with losing the match, he was pleased to be back among the senior ranks in what has been a trying first season at Visy Park.
“It was good just to take a few marks, that was what was really lacking in my game,” Henderson said.
“Two weeks ago against West Coast I wasn’t taking any marks, so that was really good just to finally clunk a few.”
He acknowledged it had taken some time to find his feet at Carlton.
But, going on Saturday night’s display, the emerging key position player is showing signs he will be every bit as good as those at the Blues believe he will be.
He had 13 possessions (nine contested), took six marks and, tellingly, stood up in the final term when his side needed - opposed to quality opposition in Chris Tarrant.
“It’s taken a while, I’ll admit that,” Henderson said.
“But they’re a great bunch of blokes and I’m loving it down here now.”
