Antti Niemi is one reason why the San Jose Sharks are red hot, and he has a chance to become the first goaltender in over two years to get three shutouts in a row.

Steve Mason is the last to do that, and he now has the Columbus Blue Jackets surging.

Niemi and Mason should be in net opposite each other when the Sharks and Blue Jackets conclude their season series at Nationwide Arena on Wednesday night.

Niemi has started nine straight games, going 7-0-1 with a 1.85 goals-against average while fellow netminder Antero Niittymaki struggles with a groin injury. Niemi was pulled once in that stretch, allowing three goals on 27 shots through 30:13 of play before the Sharks (29-19-6) rallied for a 5-3 win over Phoenix on Feb. 1.

He's followed that up by starting San Jose's seven-game road trip with three straight wins. He made 26 saves in a 2-0 win at Boston on Saturday before stopping 25 shots in a win by the same score against Washington on Tuesday.

Niemi's outstanding play has helped move the Sharks within one point of Pacific Division-leading Dallas. A victory over Columbus would give San Jose its first five-game winning streak since Jan. 16-23, 2010.

WASHINGTON -- The San Jose Sharks have come up with a postgame ritual, the passing of a miniature baseball bat to the player judged by his teammates to have made the key contributions to victory.

Tuesday, after a 2-0 win over the Washington Capitals that made San Jose 8-0-1 over the past nine games and 3-0 on this trip, it must have been a tough choice:

Goalie Antti Niemi, whose 25-save performance earned him a second consecutive shutout of a top Eastern Conference team, or rookie Logan Couture, whose goal 52 minutes into the game broke a scoreless tie and made him the NHL leader with eight game-winners?

The locker room chant -- "Hey, hey, hey, hey -- way to go, Nemo" -- provided the answer.

It was Niemi's fourth shutout of the season and he was quick to draw comparisons with the one that preceded it Saturday against the Boston Bruins.

"I think we kept doing what we did in Boston," Niemi said. "People kept blocking shots and playing really tight in front of the net."

And, when asked if he was starting to feel his game was where it was last season when he was in net for the Chicago Blackhawks, his answer might give pause to the rest of the NHL.

"I think I'm feeling probably better right now, feeling more patient," said Niemi, who was on the ice when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. "Last year I still hadn't played too many games in the NHL, so I feel much more comfortable now."