Maybe it is possible to built momentum off a loss.

The Sudbury Wolves – and head coach Scott Barney in particular – were very happy with their final two periods of play Wednesday in Brantford – despite dropping a tough 2-1 decision to the hottest team in the league.

Two nights later in St Catharines, the Wolves started where they had left off.

Fourteen minutes the opening period of play, the visitors held a 3-0 lead over the Niagara Ice Dogs on goals from Henry Mews (just 31 seconds in), Kieron Walton and Nathan Villeneuve.

In spite of a late counter-strike from Ryan Rooebroeck, the Pack were relentless in their pursuit of the Dogs, closing things out with a 7-3 win that was only that close due to a Sean Doherty tally for the homeside with less than two minutes to play.

When you’re in a funk that has seen your team lose seven of eight, prior to tonight, a contest like this can go a long, long way towards restoring the faith – especially when it comes opposite an opponent that still holds a seven-point advantage over the Wolves in league standings.

“We had a really good second and third period last game – and I thought we built off that right into our game tonight,” said Barney. “We had our top guys blocking shots, we had our top guys scoring in some of those situations where maybe before, we weren’t putting the puck in the net.”

“Guys we’re playing the right way.”

Of course, when you’re desperate for a win, one good period just isn’t going to cut it. After surrendering the Rooebroeck snipe with just 24 ticks remaining on the clock in the first, the Wolves took all of 26 seconds to get that one back in the second, courtesy of Rowan Henderson.

Goals by Donovan McCoy and Kieron Walton increased the Sudbury advantage to 6-1 heading to the third, with Quentin Musty accounting for the final goal for the winners.

“That was the biggest thing after the first, continuing with good habits,” said Barney. “We were on them. We know that we have success when we play a certain way. We have seen it many nights when we do.”

In fact, through much of the first 30 games of the year, Wolves’ fans became accustomed to a certain style of hockey, one that was producing more positive results than most OHL pundits had seen coming for the nickel city lads.

“We’re not trying to put pucks across the ice,” suggested Barney. “We’re moving pucks up; we’ve got support and speed. When we’re skating and supporting pucks, that’s when we have success. That goes back to the beginning of the season. When we’re relentless on the forecheck, that’s when we win.”

Goaltender Nate Krawchuk was solid, yet again, turning aside 31 of the 34 shots that he faced after stopping 37 of 39 on Wednesday. “Nate’s getting his confidence back too, as well,” noted Barney.

Yet it was hardly the last line of defense that was the only individual worthy of special praise on this night.

“Henderson always plays the game the right way for us – so it was nice to see him rewarded with a goal. I thought Mews and (Nick) DeAngelis (defense pairing) were really solid back there, using each other well.”

“I thought Musty was tracking pucks well, (Ondrej) Molnar was tracking pucks. (Alex) Pharand and all of our centermen were really good in the faceoff circles – that was huge as well. Walton reaches the 30-goal mark – that’s an achievement for him – and when he’s rolling, we have success.”

“There were a lot of guys – we could go right down that list.”

And to think it all started with a 2-1 loss.