BOSTON (AP) — Charlie McAvoy started a three-goal flurry in a 54-second span in the first period, David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists and the Boston Bruins held off the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 on Thursday night.

Boston won for the ninth time in 11 games.

Elias Lindholm and Tanner Jeannot also scored for the Bruins, who made the Golden Knights pay after a double minor for high-sticking was assessed to forward Tomas Hertl at the nine-minute mark of the opening period. Appearing in his second straight game, Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves.

Vegas cut a 4-0 deficit in half during the opening minutes in the third period behind goals from Jack Eichel and Tomas Hertle. The Golden Knights made it three straight when Pavel Dorofeyev scored with 2:35 left with goalie Akira Schmid off for an extra skater,

Schmid remained in net after a shaky sequence that began when McAvoy blasted one from just inside the blue line for his fourth goal of the season. The goal came 10 seconds into the four-minute power play.

Boston kept charging and made it two power-play goals in 30 seconds when Lindholm scored between the circles for ninth goal of the season. Pastrnak assisted on both power-play goals.

Jeannot capped the spree off a feed from Sean Kuraly with 9:54 left.

The Bruins made it 4-0 in the second period when a nice move by Nikita Zadorov resulted in Pastrnak rifling one past Schmid for his 21st goal of the season

Golden Knights: At Toronto on Friday night.

Bruins: Host Montreal on Saturday night.

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “9:00 a.m.,” Episode 3, Season 2 of “The Pitt,” now streaming on HBO Max.

When storyline conversations began for Season 2 of “The Pitt,” star and executive producer Noah Wyle and executive producers R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells knew they wanted to honor the Jewish and Muslim communities in Pittsburgh, nearly eight years after the October 2018 terrorist attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue, which killed 11, and injured six.

During the third episode, “9:00 a.m.,” Wyle’s Dr. Robinavitch helps treat a Jewish patient (played by Irina Dubova) who burned herself after being startled by fireworks. She later admits she has PTSD from the gunshots she heard at the synagogue during the mass shooting.

“That being such a significant event in the city of Pittsburgh, it seemed like a wonderful opportunity,” says Wyle, who also wrote the episode. “When I started researching it, the aspects of it that moved me the most were the community outcry afterward from the Muslim community and the solidarity with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh working together to grieve and mourn the loss. It was the most underreported aspect of the story, and perhaps the most hopeful moving forward.”

The patient, Yana, goes out of her way to bring up that it was the Muslim community who funded the funerals of those killed during the hate crime, thanking Nurse Perlah Alawi (Amielynn Abellera).

“You can’t do a medical show, set in Pittsburgh, with a Jewish doctor without addressing that,” adds Gemmill. “It felt like a very important story to tell. There are important elements of that that hadn’t been told, or hadn’t really made the news cycle. The fact that the Muslim community came together and paid for all the funerals, that’s the kind of information that needed to be out there. We wanted to tell that part of the story, and address the story itself.”

Wyle notes that Robby’s “lack of faith and desire to perhaps, have some faith” was touched upon during Season 1 — and a thread they wanted to further explore and was something he wanted to dive further into.

“We don’t talk about Robby’s parents at all, but we do reference that he was raised by his grandparents. And Yana is a grandmother, so she’s a very familiar energy to Robby,” Wyle says. “Their interaction allows you to see a degree of relaxation and familiarity that you rarely ever see him share with anybody else, because there’s such a cultural affinity, sense of humor, sarcasm, cynicism. All of that is shared and because his guard is down with her, when she pokes holes in his trip and questions whether or not this is a midlife crisis or a cry for help, it’s the first in a series of of earthquakes that he experiences that begin to make him question his resolve.”

An audit detailing the misuse of state grant funds by Blue Hills Civic Association is prompting calls for more oversight of state aid for nonprofits.  

Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Commissioner Daniel O’Keefe said the agency has already put more controls in place.  

“I think what the audit details is–it seems that people were taking advantage of a process,” O’Keefe said Thursday.  

Those changes include requiring more information from nonprofits before grants are dispersed.  

Still, lawmakers expect to talk about further changes.  

“Obviously, the audit report raises many issues of concern in many areas, including state oversight of grants being given out,” Sen. Martin Looney (D-President Pro Tem) said.  

Republicans want further changes to create transparency about which nonprofits receive grants and whether the funding is achieving the intended results.  

DECD retained CliftonLarsonAllen LLP to conduct a forensic audit after BHCA notified the department last year that it never received a $300,000 wire transfer.  

In their findings, CLA said there were “pervasive governance failures, systemic internal control weaknesses, and patterns of conduct that strongly suggest potential fraud and misappropriation of public funds.” 

It also alleged that Sen. Doug McCrory (D-Hartford) wielded significant influence over how BHCA dispersed roughly $15 million in grants to other community organizations in recent years.  

“Available documentation and email correspondence indicate that funding allocations were largely determined by Senator McCrory, with BHCA executing disbursements without consistent adherence to required procedures such as obtaining signed MOUs or projected budgets prior to payment,” the audit said. “The prevalence of backdated MOUs, missing agreements, and passthrough arrangements lacking transparency further underscores significant governance and compliance deficiencies within BHCA. These practices raise concerns about BHCA’s accountability, proper oversight, and adherence to legislative grant requirements.” 

O’Keefe said the DECD now requires nonprofits to provide documentation of how they disburse funds, including proof of checks and balances to ensure funds are spent properly.  

The policy changes were put in place by the Office of Policy and Management for all statewide agencies.  

The rules were already in place for competitive grants under DECD’s discretion, but BHCA’s grants were secured in the budget through a process that gives broad discretion to lawmakers.  

The FBI has been investigating how Hartford-area nonprofits have used grant funding, including issuing subpoenas naming McCrory multiple times.   

The subpoenas asked the state for records that, among other information, reference a possible personal relationship between McCrory and Sonsera Cicero, owner of the nonprofit consulting firm Society of Human Engagement and Business Alignment.   

O’Keefe said he was particularly concerned that auditors identified “$208,000 in unsupported disbursements that either violated conflict of interest best practice standards or were used to pay for services that were not performed.”  

The audited states $168,000 of that money went to Cicero or SHEBA. The state is also now working on a policy to pause payments when there are concerns about misuse.  

McCrory issued a statement denying any wrongdoing but also acknowledged the need for greater control and transparency.   

“First, the DECD audit makes clear that stronger oversight is needed to ensure that public funds are managed responsibly and effectively,” he said. “I agree with this goal and will be supportive of reasonable measures to achieve it.” 

McCrory has not spoken to the media since an exclusive interview with NBC Connecticut last week, in which he announced his intention to seek re-election.  

Harding said lawmakers need to look at changes around how grant decisions are made. He said the process lacks transparency and allows lawmakers to award grants in the budget in exchange for support on the budget or other legislation.  

“Democratic leadership goes to their legislators, asks them what organizations they want to receive taxpayer money, and then we vote on it,” he said. “That’s unacceptable.”  

Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Connecticut) said the problem is not exclusive to his party.  

“First of all, they have their own earmarks,” he said. “We can talk about earmarks if you want to.”