Brad Richards doesn't have time to break a leg with the Dallas Stars this season. He's having enough trouble with his hands.

Richards returned to the lineup Saturday afternoon following a 15-game absence because of a wrist injury but couldn't make it through a 5-2 loss to San Jose unscathed, breaking his other hand in the third period.

The 28-year-old centre is out indefinitely with a spiral fracture in his left hand, dealing another heavy blow to the Stars' fading playoff hopes.

Richards is third in team scoring this season with 48 points, despite his five-week absence.

"That's not good news," Dallas head coach Dave Tippett said. "You just have to get back at it and find a way to get points."

Richards had a minus-2 rating in just over 15 minutes against the Sharks while playing on a line with Loui Eriksson and Brendan Morrison.

The Stars didn't say when or how the latest injury occurred, but Richards skated across the Shark Tank ice to the visitors' dressing room midway through the third period.

Richards had 16 goals and 32 assists in 55 games this season before breaking his wrist during a game at Columbus on Feb. 16.

Richards didn't have surgery, allowing the bone to heal on its own, and pushed to return to the lineup about one week before the training staff's projection.

The Stars probably will have to make their playoff push with no offensive help from Richards, who still leads the team with 179 shots.

Saturday's defeat was Dallas' 11th in 15 games, leaving the Stars three points behind eighth-place Nashville in the NHL's Western Conference with just 10 games to go.

With files from the Associated Press