The Vegas Golden Knights have defeated the Florida Panthers in decisive fashion to win the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup.

The Stanley Cup is heading to Vegas. 

In just their sixth year of existence, the Vegas Golden Knights have won the franchise's first Stanley Cup, demolishing the Florida Panthers by a score of 9-3 on Tuesday to take the series four games to one and sit alone atop hockey's highest mountain.

It's a remarkable achievement for an organization that didn't exist a decade ago. With six of their original "Golden Misfits" still on the roster, the Golden Knights built a staggeringly deep team in a very short period of time, acquiring the likes of Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Stone, and Jack Eichel to complement a truly outstanding supporting cast at each position group with some serious star power. 

And it didn't take long for those stars to step up on Tuesday night on the biggest stage imaginable. 

Stone got the festivities started early on with one of the nicer shorthanded tallies you'll ever see. With the Golden Knights attempting to hold off a buzzing Panthers power play, Stone managed to corral the puck at his own blueline and barrel up the ice, creating a two-on-one the other way. Despite having another forward with him, Stone displayed a level of patience that few would ever be capable of when faced with such a moment, waiting until a sliding Brandon Montour was completely out of the way before rifling it past Sergei Bobrovsky to open the scoring. 

It wouldn't take long for Vegas to double their lead, either. As Jack Eichel ignited another two-on-one rush, the 26-year-old curled the puck past the sprawling Panthers defender to take a shot on net. Bobrovsky managed to turn that puck aside, to the relief of the Florida bench, but then lost it underneath him as a cavalcade of jerseys descended upon the crease. As the melee ensued, the puck somehow squirted out to an open Nick Hague at the side of the crease who banged it home, sending the T-Mobile crowd into an absolute frenzy. 

Aaron Ekblad would pull the Panthers back within one early in the second period, as the hulking defender wired a perfectly placed wrist shot that squeaked its way through a sea of bodies and beat Adin Hill over the right shoulder. 

After a disappointing opening frame, the Panthers had life. 

And then Alec Martinez took it away. 

Almost immediately after Ekblad's goal, the Golden Knights began an onslaught on the Panthers' net, controlling the game for minutes at a time and launching attack after attack that Florida's defenders simply had no answer for. When you play with fire, you're going to get burned. And Martinez lit quite the fuse, taking a feed from Jack Eichel at the right circle to beat Bobrovsky and restore the lead to two. 

Then, the floodgates opened. 

Vegas wasted no time continuing their decimation of Florida's defense, setting up shop right back in the offensive zone and pelting Bobrovsky with pucks at an unprecedented rate. As the levies began to bend with pressure, the Panthers found themselves simply unable to clear their own zone, allowing Vegas to cause a frenzy in front of the net that resulted in Reilly Smith, one of the original gang of misfits, breaking free and firing the puck into an open net. 

The carnage didn't let up, either. Shortly after, Stone proceeded to finish off a gorgeous one-timer to deposit his second of the game and push the lead to 5-1 before Michael Amadio would storm the crease and bang home a greasy goal to turn things into a blowout, sending the Panthers into the second intermission with their tails between their legs. 

With a towering lead, Golden Knights simply cruised through the third period, needing only to quell some last-ditch attempts at redemption by the Panthers that were all ultimately for naught. Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe managed to counter Ivan Barbashev's 7-1 goal before the final buzzer sounded to pull his club back within four, but that's precisely where they would stay. That is, until Stone's empty-netter sealed the victory and the captain's hat trick, and Nicolas Roy added one final dagger in the final two minutes to make it 9-3. 

As the clock ran out, the packed building exploded in joy, as the Vegas Golden Knights staked their claim as champions of the world.