The Rangers weren’t happy with how they played during their road trip.

Returning home riding a four-game losing skid, they knew they needed a better effort.

Facing the also slumping Blues on Monday night, they received just that.

The Blueshirts have struggled mightily at MSG this year, but they put together one of their stronger efforts of the season as they held on to defeat St. Louis, 3-2.

“We needed this one,” Vincent Trocheck said.

Trocheck entered the night as a game-time decision, but he was deemed good to go, and then netted New York’s opening goal midway through the second period.

The scrappy center beat St. Louis netminder Joel Hofer to even things off a stretch pass from Adam Fox followed by a beautiful cross-ice backhand feed from Jonny Brodzinski.

The score stayed the same until Alexis Lafreniere gave the Rangers their first lead on a deflection off a Vladislav Gavrikov shot from the point nine minutes into the third.

Gavrikov is usually known for his defensive-prowess but he chipped again a few minutes later, this time dishing a perfect backhand pass to Adam Edstrom to double the advantage.

“His ability to make plays off the blueline is sneaky good,” Mike Sullivan said on Gavrikov. “He’s been involved in a fair amount of goals over the last little while here just by making good decisions along the blueline -- he’s pretty good at it.”

That tally proved to be a big one for the Rangers, as they had to withstand a four-minute Blues power play with just under six to go in regulation.

St. Louis pulled their goalie two minutes in, giving them a 6-on-4 advantage, but with the help of Igor Shesterkin between the pipes they were able to just barely hang on.

“It was fine,” Gavrikov said. “We got caught out there a few times late, but I mean Shesty made some huge saves for us and the PK was a huge part of the success at the end -- four minutes wasn’t easy but we got it done.”

The Rangers will look to build off this strong effort in a road meeting with the Hurricanes.

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