Give some stream of consciousness and then the answer. The 2017 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2016 -- 17 season, and the culmination of the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion and defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Western Conference champion Nashville Predators, four games to two. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

Answer this question: who did pittsburgh play for the stanley cup 2017?
To answer the above question, the relevant sentence is: The Eastern Conference champion and defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Western Conference champion Nashville Predators, four games to two.
Therefore, the answer is Nashville Predators.