Can Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann give the Rangers a spark on offense?

ST. LOUIS — The first question posed to Rangers coach Mike Sullivan after the morning skate in advance of Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Blues: What did he want to see different in this game from Tuesday’s game against Vancouver?

“Well, we’d like to see us score some goals,’’ Sullivan deadpanned; his team had been shut out by Vancouver. “I’m probably stating the obvious there. But we had a film session to try to find some solutions for these guys, try to help us find the back of the net a little bit more consistently.’’

It didn’t help that leading scorer Artemi Panarin missed the game because of illness, but the Rangers certainly were hoping the two prospects they called up Wednesday, Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann, might add something positive.

Perreault led Hartford in scoring with 10 goals and 17 points in 20 games. Othmann had three goals in the last four games.

Perreault, 20, the Rangers’ first-round pick in 2023, was asked if he thought he could help the team with its goal-scoring problem.

“Yeah, I think, definitely,’’ he said. “It’s always been one of my strengths, producing [offense], and I think I’ve done that at quite a bit of levels. So I think now just trying to figure it out here [at the NHL level].”

He’d already been called up once before this season and played three games on the top line with J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad, recording one assist, before being sent back to Hartford. His defensive play apparently was an issue.

But with the Rangers having been shut out an NHL-high seven times this season and averaging only 2.51 goals per game going into Thursday, the team’s brain trust wanted to get another look at Perreault.

“We just want to see where his game is at, and we’re trying to put him in a position to succeed,’’ Sullivan said. “The last time we called him up, we put him in the top six with our top players. The challenge with that is, you’re playing against opponents’ top players. Also, you’re getting the top defense pair.

“We’re excited about Gabe’s game and potentially where it can go. We also recognize that this is a process, and . . . we don’t want young players like Gabe to get overwhelmed.’’

To address that concern, Sullivan had Perreault playing on the third line with fellow rookie Noah Laba and Taylor Raddysh rather than putting him on one of the top two lines.

Othmann, 22, was the Rangers’ first-round pick in 2021 but hasn’t been able to stick with the team in his third pro season. He failed to make the Rangers out of training camp and got off to a slow start with Hartford but was called up in late October after Matt Rempe suffered a broken thumb and didn’t make the trip to Western Canada. However, Othmann made a defensive mistake in the first game, didn’t play again and was returned to Hartford when the trip ended.

It’s been a trying season for Othmann, who’s been rumored to be on the trading block. He talked about being “down in the dumps’’ after not making the team out of training camp and about how he’s been trying to “stick with it’’ after a minor- league hockey coach of his reminded him to “trust the process.’’ And he talked again about how bothered he is by not having scored an NHL goal yet after 26 career games.

“This morning Mika actually asked me if I had scored, and I looked at him and I shook my head, and he was like, ‘Dude, just put the puck in the net.’ And I’m like, ‘Easy for you to say,’ ’’ Othmann said. “But no, I’m just gonna try to play my game. And you know what? However many minutes I play, whatever happens out there, I want to enjoy it. It’s my second game in the NHL this season, so I just want to slowly start getting back into it. And I just want to have fun and create some energy.”

Notes & quotes: Will Cuylle took Panarin’s spot on the top line with Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere. Scott Morrow was expected to play the point on the power play, breaking up the five-forward first power-play unit . . . Adam Fox (upper body), who is on long-term injured reserve, made the trip with the team and took part in the morning skate, wearing a red no-contact jersey.