So much for any side effects from having a week off.

Back on the ice for the first time in 13 days and mired in a three-game losing funk, the University of Minnesota Duluth showed little signs of rustiness Friday night in its Northeast Regional semifinal clash with the University of Minnesota. The re-energized Bulldogs struck for three goals in a six-minute span late in the first period and went on to throttle their long-time rivals 4-1 at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H. UMD now moves on to Saturday's Northeast Regional championship and a first-ever NCAA Tournament matchup with Boston University, which defeated Yale University 3-2 in overtime on Friday afternoon. The Terriers are the regional's No. 1 seed while UMD is the second seed.

"Obviously, this is a great win for our team," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin. "I thought we started a little slow, but Kaz (Kasimir Kaskisuo) made a couple of key saves early and then we found our legs. From that point on, we played a pretty good game.

UMD/Minnesota post-game press conferences

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Junior center Tony Cameranesi got UMD on the board at 12:49 of the first period when he took a cross ice feed from sophomore defenseman Willie Raskob down low and rapped in his ninth goal of the season. Three minutes later, senior right winger Justin Crandall's redirect of a right point shot from sophomore defenseman Brenden Kotyk put UMD up 2-0  and Raskob added to that lead with a goal with 1:12 to go before the intermission.

Sophomore defenseman Carson Soucy gave the Bulldogs (21-15-3 overall) some insurance midway through second period by blasting a shot that deflected off of at least one Gopher player before sailing past netminer Adam Wilcox. UMD outshot Minnesota 16-6 during that period and seemed to have all put punched their ticket to the NCAA quarterfinals at that point.

"I thought that fourth goal was huge," said Sandelin, who is now 9-3 in NCAA tournament play and a perfect 5-0 in the opening round. "Even being up by three, I was still not comfortable because of their a quick strike team and their power play is so goo. If you take a penalty or two, they can get the momentum to be right back in the thing."

Freshman goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo's shutout bid (which would have been his second of his career -- and second against Minnesota), was broken up a Seth Ambroz backhand with 4:54 remaining in regulation. The 2014-15 NCHA All-Rookie Team pick finished with 31 saves while improving to 18-13-3 on the year. That includes a 3-1-0 mark against Minnesota (to go with a 1.51 goals against average and a .937 saves percentage).

"The way we started playing after the first few minutes is the way we want to play," said Kaskisuo.  "It was good to see the guys rebound after losing two to Denver in the NCHC playoffs and it was great to have that intensity back."

The win was the Bulldogs' fourth in five meetings with Minnesota and their second in two lifetime NCAA playoffs bouts. Minnesota (23-13-3), the 2014-15 Big Ten regular season and playoff champions came into the night riding a four-game winning streak. It also possessed the nation's most potent power play unit but a disciplined Bulldog club took just one penalty the entire night and the blanked the Gophers in their one opportunity with the man advantage.

Raskob also picked one assist as did Cameranesi, who now has team-leading 30 points on the season. Both Crandall and his linemate, rookie center Jared Thomas, finished a +2 while junior defenseman Andy Welinski topped the Buldogs with four shots on goals.

"I think once we got our feet under us after a kind of slow start, every line was going," said Cameranesi. "We spent a lot of time in the offensive zone. We had a lot of support down low and we were moving the puck. Most importantly, we were getting the puck on net. We had a lot of energy and it showed out there."

Saturday night, UMD will be seeking its fifth-ever Frozen Four berth, with the last coming in 2011 when the Bulldogs won their first national championship. The last (and only) time UMD won four games with the Gophers in season was in 2004 (it was 5-1 against them). That  year ithge Bulldogs ousted Minnesota in the NCAA Midwest Regional title game on their way to the Frozen Four in Boston, Mass. -- the same site of this year's event.

"We are excited to be playing Boston University -- they are a new opponent for us," said Sandelin, who has never faced the Terriers. "They obviously are a good team. You don't win the Hockey East regular season and playoff championship without having some pretty talented people."