Carlton's sixth victory of the season was soured by the hamstring injury to midfielder Adam Cerra, who just last week returned to the side.
Cerra was subbed out in the third term and is set to spend his fourth stint on the sidelines in less than a year due to hamstring issues.
The former Docker missed two chunks of 2023 due to his injury woes and overcame recent hamstring troubles to rejoin the side against Collingwood in Round 9.
Cerra's string of soft-tissue injuries is a growing concern for the Blues, who have lost key personnel (Jack Martin, Mitch McGovern, Adam Saad, Jesse Motlop, David Cunningham and Matt Carroll) in recent times.
Carlton coach Michael Voss said post-game that the midfielder would be sent for scans but wasn't sure if it was the same leg that had previously been an issue.
"A slight hamstring – a minor hamstring, I should say," Voss said.
"We'll get that scanned and see where that lies."
However, the ill-timed injury to Cerra didn't undermine Voss' praise for his side, especially when jumping out to a six-goal head-start to begin the evening.
The Blues led for the entire night and were more efficient in front of the big sticks, which proved to be a real difference after half-time.
Voss' men raised their pressure from last week, laying 68 tackles but also winning the clearance (42-40) and contested possession (154-146) counts, exploiting Melbourne's short five-day break.
"Certainly, the start was really impressive. That's how we wanted to make sure we got it, very early, realising that obviously, Melbourne was off the back of a five-day break, so to get the jump, to be able to score like that early was important," Voss said.
"Then it was a genuine arm wrestle through the middle part of the ground. The end was a bit different, but it won't take away from the positives of the game for us.
"We've been fighting for a good month, I think we've been in some good form, we've played against some really good sides (GWS, Geelong and Collingwood), and felt like we haven't been able to get the wins on the board. So perhaps that's what it felt like in the last quarter, and we needed to get the four points. We'll walk away with that against a really good side."
Since 2019, Carlton and Melbourne have engaged in eight encounters, with six of them being closely contested matches.
Carlton's latest victory against Melbourne, clinched by a narrow margin on Thursday, marks the third consecutive close outcome between the two teams that are in favour of the Blues.
Voss' men are set to face Sydney at the SCG in Round 10 in another mouth-watering clash while the Demons will travel West to take on the Eagles.