The Islanders placed Alexander Romanov on injured reserve and called up two players

The Islanders’ roster shuffling continued apace Thursday.

Alexander Romanov (upper body) was moved to injured reserve to clear one roster spot, and a second spot opened up once Mark Gatcomb cleared waivers at 2 p.m., along with enough room for two call-ups.

The Islanders ended up needing both, as winger Maxim Shabanov was ruled out Thursday won 7-2 over the Red Wingsas coach Patrick Roy called him day after day due to an upper body injury.

Forward Matthew Highmore and defenseman Marshall Warren were recalled from AHL Bridgeport to fill both roster spots, though neither appeared in the lineup against Detroit.

Instead, Kyle MacLean returns as a winger on the fourth line, with Simon Holmstrom moving to the third line in Shabanov’s place.

“I feel like he’s controlling the puck, and he looks very comfortable with it,” Roy said of McClain, who last played in the win over the Senators on Saturday. “I know he worked hard at it over the offseason and he’s been rewarded for it. Really happy with the games he’s played.”

Romanov’s move to IR changes nothing about his timeline for a return. Since the injury date dates back to October 16, the minimum seven days a player must spend on IR before it can be activated has already passed.

The Islanders also placed Pierre Engvall on long-term injured reserve.

While this isn’t as notable as it doesn’t tell us anything new about the timeline for Engvall’s return — general manager Mathieu Darsch said Wednesday that the winger will be out for 5-6 months after undergoing ankle surgery earlier this week — it does change the salary cap equation for the Islanders.

While the Islanders can still technically accumulate cap space unless they use the additional $3 million in cap space gained by having Engvall on LTIR — right now, they are $5,942 short of doing so — they will be on LTIR until the trade deadline, as Engvall cannot be taken off of until he is healthy.

Although things could have changed, the Isles weren’t on track to accumulate $3 million in space by the trade deadline, let alone the $5.75 million total they could get by moving Semyon Varlamov to LTIR in addition to Engvall.

Varlamov, who is recovering from knee surgery, does not have a specific timetable for his return, but is expected to be out for an extended period.

Darsch said Wednesday that he was just starting to test his knee by getting into a goal stance.

Mathew Barzal did not participate in Thursday’s morning skate due to what a team spokesman deemed load management on his surgically repaired knee. Barzal played in the match against Detroit.