The Chicago Blackhawks are playing their worst hockey heading into the Winter Classic

The Chicago Blackhawks have turned in some of their worst performances of the season over the past two contests. It could not have come at a worse time.

The Hawks head into the Winter Classic having lost four straight.

That is not the type of skid a team wants to be on heading into a national showcase. To make matters worse, the Hawks have been outscored 11-3 in their past two contests.

They were totally non-competitive against the Buffalo Sabres coming off the Christmas break. Buffalo jumped out to four goals in the first period and the Sabres cruised to an easy 6-2 home victory.

The Hawks did what they did best against the Dallas Stars in Chicago's most recent game--they blew a lead. Granted it was a first-period lead, but it was a still lead. The Hawks continue to blow them with regularity when the Stars rattled off five unanswered goals in a 5-1 road victory.

Scoring has come easy recently for the Hawks' opponents.

Interim head coach Anders Sorensen might want to re-think the defensive strategy because his changes have not worked recently.

Against Buffalo, the Sabres were able to plant screeners in front of goalie Petr Mrazek and no Hawks defensemen could get them out of the way. Also, over-pursuing the puck allowed said screeners to get wide-open looks at the net.

Sorensen wants to take away prime scoring spots on the ice away from the opponent. That did not happen against Dallas or Buffalo.

Now the hope is the Hawks do not suck even more in front of a bigger audience at Wrigley Field and in front of the nation. However, these past two defeats have happened on national television.

The Winter Classic intends to draw in casual fans whereas a Friday night game on ESPN2 is targeted toward the hockey fan. Well, the casual fan or Hawks fans who have checked out because of all this losing are about to see possibly the worst version of the Blackhawks.

That is saying something considering things got so bad this season that Luke Richardson was fired as the team's head coach.

Clearly, the shine of Sorensen as the interim head coach has worn off. The interim coach bounce was only going to last so long. It just would have been nice had it not come this week with such a big game on the schedule.

Hopefully, the Hawks can find some answers in time for the outdoor showdown with their rival, the St. Louis Blues. The Hawks have historically played poorly in this type of showcase, but this one could be their worst.