RECAP: Preston OT Winner, Lin's 3 Points Lift Giants Past Americans 4-3

RECAP: Preston OT Winner, Lin’s 3 Points Lift Giants Past Americans 4-3

Category: ArticleJanuary 9, 2026

LANGLEY, B.C. – The Vancouver Giants edged the Tri-City Americans 4-3 in overtime on Friday night thanks to a goal from new addition Mathis Preston, who scored the game-winner 26 seconds into the extra frame.

The Giants held a 2-0 after 20 minutes and entered the third period up 3-1, before the Americans fought back to tie the game 3-3 and send it to overtime. The draft-eligible Preston tucked his 15th of the season to win the game off a great individual effort, where he dangled his way to the net and finished on the backhand.

The Giants improve to 17-22-1-1 following the win, while the Americans fall to 20-15-3-0.

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Ryan Lin had a standout night in his first game wearing the ‘C’, scoring twice and adding an assist to give him 50 points on the season. He is the first draft-eligible CHL defenceman to hit the 50-point plateau. Lance McCloskey also scored for the G-Men, his first career goal in the WHL.

Savin Virk, Jakub Vanecek and Carter Kingerski each scored for the visitors.

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GAME SUMMARY

Lin opened the score just 2:32 in with a seeing-eye wrist shot from the blueline.

CAPTAIN LINNER OPENS UP SCORING TONIGHT 🚨 assists to Oreskovic and Marrelli!! pic.twitter.com/nXkF5to9Jw

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) January 10, 2026

He notched his second of the night just a few minutes later on a power play to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

Need another goal? Our Captain is your guy 🤩 Ryan Lin gets his second of the night with assists from Mathis Preston and Tobias Tomik!! pic.twitter.com/aqFZVIyP2L

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) January 10, 2026

Virk got the visitors to within a goal when he scored on a Tri-City power play, tucking home the puck at the side of the net.

Just 44 seconds later, McCloskey scored his first career WHL goal on a wrist shot from the right circle to put Vancouver back out in front 3-1.

FIRST WHL GOAL FOR LANCE MCCLOSKEY 🚨🤩🔥 assists to Skok and Chorney! pic.twitter.com/igQ6ivdyd5

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) January 10, 2026

Tri-City struck twice in the third period to tie the game.

First, Vanecek scored 1:39 into the third when he was wide open joining the rush as the trailer down the middle of the ice and deked to the backhand for his sixth goal of the season.

At the 12:38 mark of the third, Kingerski deflected a point shot past Hood to tie the game.

The Giants scored on their first possession of the overtime, after Preston deked his way to the front of the net thanks to a pick from new teammate Misha Volotovskii.

MAGIC MATHIS PRESTON SCORES THE GAME WINNING GOAL 🤯🪄 pic.twitter.com/6FYL4MZJgl

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) January 10, 2026

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN —12/11/7/1 = 31 | TC – 12/11/10 = 33
PP: VAN—1/3 | TC — 1/4
Face-Offs: VAN — 45 | TC —23

3 STARS

1st: VAN – Ryan Lin – 2G, 1A, 5 SOG, +2
2nd: VAN – Mathis Preston – OTW, 1A, 6 SOG, +1
3rd: VAN – Lance McCloskey – 1st Career WHL Goal, 3 SOG

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: WIN – Burke Hood (30 saves / 33 shots)
Tri-City: LOSS – Ryan Grout (27 saves / 31 shots)

THEY SAID IT

“We had a pretty hot start and we were controlling the game in the first period and then it got away from us. Starting to drift away in the second and then in the third period we were sitting back a little bit there, which we don’t want to do, but just sticking with it. Our guys were really moving tonight. Obviously the OT winner with Mathis was a great way to put a stamp on it.” – Giants Captain Ryan Lin

“More than anything, just wanted [the new guys] to go out and play, and play for each other and I thought they did that tonight. Nice to kind of kick off this post-trade deadline era with a win. Hopefully we can build off of it tomorrow.” – Head Coach Parker Burgess

Click below for the full post-game interview with Head Coach Parker Burgess

UPCOMING

The Giants have a home-and-home with Wenatchee to close out the weekend.

Date	Opponent	Location	Time
Saturday, January 10	Wenatchee	Langley Events Centre	7:00 PM
Sunday, January 11	Wenatchee	Town Toyota Center	4:00 PM

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