SHARKSatRANGERSTonight7:30 – MSGWFAN (660 AM) The Rangers couldn’t avoid a blizzard in the Midwest, but they managed to escape a tough four-game road trip with a 3-1-0 record before returning home for tonight’s game against the Sharks.

After Mike Richter shut out the Blues 1-0 Saturday night, the Rangers were unable to fly out of snowbound St. Louis because they couldn’t get de-icer for their airplane. They stayed in Missouri overnight, and yesterday afternoon coach John Muckler put the team through a practice before returning to New York.

The Rangers have shown an ability to adapt to difficult circumstances. After losing Wednesday night in Phoenix to drop three games under .500, they bounced back to win in Colorado and St. Louis.

The Blues outshot the Rangers 24-10, but Richter posted his third shutout of the season and John MacLean scored the game’s only goal on a power play in the first period.

The Blueshirts (14-15-7) are through with what they consider to be the toughest portion of their schedule, in which they played 21 of 36 games on the road.

Beginning tonight against the Sharks, the Rangers enter a stretch where seven of their next nine games are at home. The only elite team they’ll face will be the Devils, who visit the Garden Wednesday night. The Rangers travel to Washington on Thursday.

The Rangers are in ninth place in the East, four points behind eighth-place Pittsburgh (16-10-7), which has three games in hand.

The Sharks were off yesterday after beating the Islanders 4-3 Saturday at the Coliseum on an overtime goal by Marco Sturm.