Las Vegas, a city used to evenly matched, big-ticket fights, witnessed perhaps the most lopsided brawl in sports history: Tensions that have simmered through the first four Stanley Cup games boiled over on Thursday in a bloody confrontation before game five.

During the newly traditional opening spectacle for Vegas home play-off games, Tom Wilson pummeled the representative Las Vegas Golden Knight into submission in front of millions of viewers nationwide. The winger is Washington’s go-to player for establishing physicality and disrupting opponents. Facing an away crowd as the series traveled back to Las Vegas, Wilson chose a new and brutal way to set the tone.

The Knights have consistently generated home-team excitement through elaborate pre-game displays seemingly adopted directly from Renaissance Fairs, but Thursday night’s spectacle had the opposite effect. When the Golden Knight skated out to hype up the Vegas fan base, instead of confronting the typical strawman villain, he came face-to-face with Wilson charging onto the ice. The Capitals enforcer seized the terrified mascot before he could react and delivered a merciless beat-down. Prop armor made no difference; the helmet flew off after several punches. With no referees to intervene, subsequent hits drove the Knight to the ice. Spectators looked on in horrified silence as Wilson straddled their standard-bearer and continued to land blow after blow. Eventually satisfied, Wilson glided away from the crumpled figure, knuckles dripping blood onto the ice. Asked to comment as he stepped off the rink, Wilson replied blankly, “I felt like destroying something beautiful.”

UPDATE: The Capitals went on to win game five, and the Stanley Cup, on the blood-stained ice.