NHL star scores with billboard ploy to win back girlfriend

Rachel Murray

Evander Kane (R) and his girlfriend Mara Teigen attend an event in West Hollywood in July.

Buffalo Sabres winger Evander Kane is no longer on thin ice with his estranged model girlfriend.

The 24-year-old Canadian hockey star dipped into his $ 6 million-a-year contract over the weekend to rent a promotional billboard to showcase Mara Teigen’s headshot above a trendy Los Angeles club in a high-profile effort to win her back.

Well, Kane seems to have scored on his desperation play on one of the most heavily trafficked parts of the Sunset Strip, TMZ is reporting.

“I was very flattered, I thought it was really sweet,” Teigen told a videographer for the gossip site.

“I thought it was really cute.”

Teigen, 20, was visibly impressed by the high-profile advertisement above 1 Oak, which included her headshot from the Wilhelminia Models agency and the sign-off, “Love Evander.”

As soon as it went up and was showcased on TMZ on Sunday, Teigen added that her phone was inundated with texts.

“We’re working things out,” she said, when asked if the gesture worked. “He’s a good guy.”

Teigen had been dating Kane since he was skating for the Winnipeg Jets last year, having met the up and coming NHL star in New York where she was modeling at the time.

Their first date, she told Sports Illustrated, was a Knicks-Bulls game at Madison Square Garden.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Evander Kane, traded from Winnipeg to the Buffalo Sabres in February, is skating into the second year of a six-year, $ 31.5 million contract.