Prior to Saturday’s 8-1, season-ending loss to the Minnesota Frost, the common refrain among the Fleet players and staff was that they were in control of their destiny. A win of any kind, or even a loss in a shootout, would have guaranteed them a spot in the playoffs. They just needed one point. Instead, the Fleet were a no-show in a must-win game, and now they’re watching the playoffs, knowing that in two months the roster will look vastly different. The PWHL is expanding by two teams — Seattle and Vancouver — prior to next season, and an expansion draft set for June will shake up rosters. Details about the draft are scarce, but Fleet coach Courtney Kessel and general manager Danielle Marmer know they could lose some of their cornerstones to the newest franchises. “It’s especially sad because I really thought we had a group that could have went all the way, and unfortunately we’re not,” Kessel said Wednesday. The collapse in the regular-season finale meant the Fleet finished the season in a three-way tie for third place with Ottawa and Minnesota (44 points). But the Fleet lost the tiebreaker on regulation wins, with nine compared with Minnesota’s 10 and Ottawa’s 12, and finished fifth. “You can’t afford to give up games or ties that go into overtime with two minutes left in the game,” Kessel said. “We did that a few times this year and it cost us.” Even an overtime loss Saturday would have guaranteed the Fleet a point and a spot in the playoffs. Instead, Boston conceded its worst loss in its most crucial game. Aerin Frankel — who Kessel, Marmer, and teammates have on numerous occasions called the best goaltender in the world — looked unlike herself in the loss. Frankel returned from April’s World Championship with an upper-body injury and missed the two games prior to Saturday. Though Kessel said Frankel was at 100 percent and was cleared to play, she gave up two goals in the first four minutes and was pulled after allowing three in the first period. “There’s five players in front of her that have got to show up, as well,” Kessel said. “And unfortunately, I don’t think we showed up in the first 10 minutes. And when you’re coming back from an injury, especially being a goalie, you need a team that’s in front of you.” Frankel’s injury also raises questions about the league’s scheduling conundrum: Between the Rivalry Series in November and February and the World Championship in April, the league took three international breaks this season, and three of the Fleet’s top players — Frankel, Alina Muller, and Hannah Bilka — returned with injuries. With the Olympics set for next February and the World Championship again slated for April, Marmer said she hopes the league will adjust its schedule to minimize the risk of injuries. “It’s not your depth players, necessarily, who are going to those events,” Marmer said. “It’s your best players, the players that you need to be healthy and playing their best hockey by the end of the season.”