The Edmonton Oilers will be getting a familiar face refereeing these payoffs as Kyle Rehman and Steve Kozari will be officiating game one of their series against the LA Kings.

Rehman, wearing number 10, worked six Oilers games this season, while Kozari, wearing number 40, hasn’t refereed any, according to Scouting the Refs. The linesmen for the series are Devin Berg and Trent Knorr.

Oilers fans know Kozari well. Connor McDavid dropped the classic “check upstairs” line on Kozari back in 2018 and has rung the Oilers up a number of times in recent years for uh… some questionable calls at best.

According to Scouting the Refs, Rehman and Kozari sit on, well, different ends of the reffing spectrum. Rehman calls 3.2 penalties per game ranking 33rd, while Kozari called 4.2 per game, fourth in the league. Rehman has 2.8 powerplays per game, again ranking 33rd, while Kozari’s 3.4 rank 3rd in the league.

Edmonton’s no stranger to suspect refereeing in the past and we know how they will put their whistles away and “let them play” in the playoffs. Last year’s series against the Winnipeg Jets was a masterclass in bad reffing with Edmonton barely getting any calls going their way.

Let’s see how things go on night one of these playoffs.