"Jason Pominville was waiting for the puck. Next thing he knew, a handful of doctors were pinching and prodding him. In between was nothing but blackness.

The Buffalo Sabres' right winger, who has been sidelined with a concussion since being wheeled off the ice on a stretcher Oct. 11, told the story of his hit for the first time Tuesday. Pominville said he never saw Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson coming from behind and was knocked out when his head rattled off the glass.

"It was definitely one of those where the puck wasn't there and I never saw him," Pominville said in HSBC Arena. "It's tough for me to even take note of it. My back was turned.

"I was sleeping for two, three minutes. The trainers came out and were trying to, I don't know what they were doing, either pinching me or trying to wake me up. Eventually, I kind of woke up and saw four, five doctors around me, so I was kind of wondering what was going on.

"But as they started asking me questions, I think my memory was pretty good. I remembered who had scored and what had happened throughout the game, so the question-answering part of it was good."

Pominville will miss his fourth straight game tonight when the Sabres visit the Atlanta Thrashers, but he made his first step toward a return with a light off-ice workout Tuesday.

"I feel good, much better than I did the first few days," he said. "I was able to work out [Tuesday] for the first time, rode the bike, got the heart rate up a bit, so it feels good right now, and hopefully it will feel good for the rest of the day, too."