On a night in which the two-time reigning MVP was neutralized, Tomas Plekanec was the perfect spoil sport for the Montreal Canadiens, scoring 13:19 into overtime as the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed beat the top-seeded Capitals, 3-2.

It was Plekanec who traded barbs this week with Washington goalie Jose Theodore.

Plekanec basically said Theodore was no Martin Brodeur or Ryan Miller, and Theodore shot back that Plekanec wasn’t exactly Jagr. Just to add to the fun, Plekanec’s jersey number on the greaseboard in the Canadiens’ locker room was listed as Jagr’s 68 — instead of Plekanec’s 14.

“It was the first day that quote came out . . . I didn’t like it, but we have had a good laugh about it the next day,’’ Plekanec said. “I never said anything bad about their goaltending. I said they had really good goalies and they proved it.’’

Theodore also laughed off the back-and-forth between the two, as well as the irony that he gave up the deciding goal to the player he needled.

“It was just to set up the mood for the playoffs,’’ Theodore said. “Tomas is a great player.’’

Plekanec silenced the sellout crowd by taking the puck near the red line, skating into the offensive zone and scoring on a drive from high in the slot that beat Theodore to the stick side.

“Right now I’m mad, and right now we’re disappointed, but tomorrow’s a new day,’’ said Ovechkin.

Canucks 3, Kings 2 — Mikael Samuelsson scored his second goal 8:52 into overtime to give host Vancouver a victory over Los Angeles in the opener of their series.

Daniel Sedin scored and set up Samuelsson’s second-period power-play goal, and Robert Luongo finished with 25 saves for the Canucks, who host Game 2 tomorrow night.

Jarret Stoll and Fredrik Modin scored power-play goals, and Jonathan Quick made 41 saves in the Kings’ first playoff game since 2002.