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DALLAS — The Dallas Stars played Monday night with their heels hanging off the edge of the cliff, and won.

And all that got them was a Game 7 at home, in a series where four of the last five games have been won by the road team.

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Why, then, does every player and coach in hockey reflexively fall back on the old “We worked all year to get home ice for Game 7” chestnut?

“Because that noise you hear in the building is for you,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said Tuesday, following an optional skate at the club’s Frisco, Texas, training facility.

“I … I can’t answer that question. After all these years, I don’t know. I just know that you have a little bit of an advantage.”

Based on how the Stars were swarmed by the St. Louis Blues for much of Game 6, which they somehow won 3-2 anyway, the home side is going to have to be more than a little bit better Wednesday night.

But there truly is no handicapping this series.

And there is an element of randomness to any one hockey game that makes it foolhardy to predict how it may be played, or who will win it.